E-mail: suloevamarina@yandex.ru Tel.: +7 (812) 328-14-12
3, Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
Postgraduate student, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
Tel.: +7 (812) 328-08-42 7-9-11,
В, Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
Lecturer, L. A. Verbitskaya Department of General Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, St. Petersburg State University
This article is devoted to the traditional Christmas cuisine of the Arbëreshë people, descendants of Albanians who migrated to southern Italy from the Balkan Peninsula in the fifteenth century. Over the five centuries of its existence, Arbëresh gastronomic culture has become largely integrated with the Italian, but despite the rapid development of culinary globalization, traditional Arbëresh food continues to be an important marker of their identity. Christmas is one of the most important religious holidays for the Arbëreshë. These days, representatives of different generations gather at the same table. The Christmas meal, which is attended not only by members of the immediate family, but also by relatives, friends and acquaintances, expresses the idea of group solidarity, interchange and friendship and serves as an occasion to recall the centuries-old traditions that are honored by all members of the Arbëresh diaspora and passed down from generation to generation. The Arbëresh Christmas menu is distinguished by a variety of dishes and ways of preparing them. Despite the fact that globalization processes cause alterations in classic recipes, Arbëreshë strive to remain true to tradition, using the same ingredients and cooking methods as in centuries past. Thanks to this, their national cuisine continues to be an important mechanism for the representation and transmission of Arbëresh culture.
Mastroberti F. (2008) Le colonie albanesi nel Regno di Napoli tra storia e storiografia [The Albanian Colonies in the Kingdom of Naples Between History and Historiography]. Bari: Università degli studi di Bari: Cacucci Editore. Pp. 241–251. In Italian.
Matranga V. (2015) Arbëreshë, Versione 2 [Arbëreshë, Version 2]. Korpus im Text [The Body of the Text]. 2015. Serie A. P. 12805. http://www.kit. gwi.uni-muenchen.de/?p=12805&v=2 (retrieved: 20.12.2020). In Italian.
Scaldaferri N. (1997) Grur shum e ver shum (molto grano e molto vino). Lavoro e tradizione orale a San Costantino Albanese [A Lot of Grain and a Lot of Wine: Work and Oral Tradition in San Costantino Albanese]. In: Immagini e riflessioni sulla vita tradizionale a San Costantino Albanese [Images and Reflections on Traditional Life in San Costantino Albanese]. Venosa: Edizioni Osanna. Pp. 15–47. In Italian.
Suloeva M. A. (2020) Rol’ i funktsionirovanie traditsionnoi zhenskoi odezhdy arbreshei Italii v sovremennom sotsiokul’turnom prostranstve [The Role and Functioning of Traditional Women’s Clothing of the Arbëreshë of Italy in Modern Socio-Cultural Space]. Vestnik antropologii [Herald of Anthropology]. 2020. No. 4 (52). Pp. 45–64. In Russian.
Suloeva M. A. (2021) Rol’ italo-albanskoi tserkvi i funktsiya vizantiiskogo obryada v konstruirovanii identichnosti arbreshei Sitsilii [The Role of the Italo-Albanian Church and the Function of the Byzantine Rite in the Construction of the Identity of the Arbëreshë of Sicily]. Vestnik antropologii [Herald of Anthropology]. 2021. No. 2 (54). Pp. 44–60. In Russian.
Suloeva M. A. (2022) Yazyk kak otrazhenie etnicheskoi identichnosti arbreshei Italii [Language as a Reflection of the Ethnic Identity of the Arbëreshë of Italy]. In: Yazyk kak resurs identichnosti v Evrope: antropologicheskoe issledovanie [Language as a Resource of Identity in Europe: Anthropological Research]. Ed. by M. Yu. Martynova. Moscow: IEA RAN. Pp. 294–320. In Russian
Suloeva M. A. The Representation of Italian Arbëresh National Identity in the Culinary Code of Their Traditional Christmas Menu. Traditional Culture. 2022. Vol. 23. No. 3. Pp. 161–170. In Russian.