THE MOONEE VALLEY “UNA RAZZA UNA FAZZA” FESTIVAL RETURNS

 

There is a village named after Saint Dimitrios in Calabria. It was founded by refugees from Epirus in the fifteenth century, fleeing the Ottoman occupation of their homeland. The refugees settled near the ancient oratory of Sant Adriano, where in tenth century, Saint Nilus the Younger, patron saint of scribes and calligraphers, founded Italo-Byzantine monasticism. The village is called San Demetrio Corone, the latter title referring to the fact that a later wave of refugees arrived from Coroni in the Peloponnese. While a small village of only three thousand inhabitants, it is of great importance to Italy because it has produced many patriots, theorists and revolutionaries in the Risorgimento, the unification of the country. Saint Dimitrios is the patron saint of the village and his feast day is celebrated with great pomp, since the inhabitants of the village, who have long since converted to Catholicism, still use the Byzantine Rite.

Further north, in the Abruzzo, there exists the village of San Demetrio ne' Vestini, whose principal church is that of San Demetrio da Tessalonica, Saint Dimitrios of Thessaloniki. Saint Dimitrios of course, though a Greek, was a high ranking official in the service of the Roman Emperor and the seventh century manuscript of the miracles of Saint Dimitrios, which contains unique information about the topography of Thessaloniki and the Slavic invasions of Macedonia, is housed in the Vatican.

It is thus almost as impossible to separate the Italic component from the traditions and veneration of Saint Dimitrios, as it is to sever the Italic character from the City of Moonee Valley, where the parish of Saint Dimitrios, Moonee Ponds is situated. This year, one of the candidates for election to council proudly boasts Italian grandparents and a Greek surname and there are not a few parishioners who are of mixed Italian and Greek ancestry, which amounts to the same thing, not solely because of “una razza, una faccia,” (which according to a friend is not so true, for there is a certain amount of darkness that attaches itself to the Balkan soul that is not present among our Italic cousins, even if we share the same DNA) but also because, well as everyone knows, we got there first.

The Italians who attend our parish smile graciously when I tell them that culinary mainstays that are associated with their culture such as pizza (from the ancient Greek πήτεα meaning bran bread), or macaroni (from the Greek μάκαρος, a dish originally made to commemorate the dead), or lasagne (from the ancient Greek λάζανον meaning a flat baking tray), are actually Greek in origin, adding that the Romans employed Greek bakers to produce breads and prized Greek cheeses from Sicily, but I can tell that they are not convinced. I concede that the Vlach language, historically spoken in many parts of Greece, including in those parts from which many of our parishioners derive their ancestry is a Latin tongue, which most likely evolved as a consequence of the long Roman sojourn in Greece, but they have never heard of it. Instead, they point to the Italian coffee machine that dispenses Italianate coffee after the Liturgy, far outperforming and overshadowing the humble electric briki that resides inconspicuously behind it.

Some of the older parishioners also remind me that going to get a pizza after Bible Study was a Rite of Passage for many of them, while others point out that my baptismal name, Constantine, is of Roman origin, and that of the patron saints of my children, two, Saint Helena and Saint Alexandra of Rome, were both Empresses of Rome while the last, Saint Alexios, Man of God, was according to the Greek tradition, also reputed to be a Roman.

The fusion not only of our cultures but also of our religious beliefs thus not only precedes our arrival in this land, but somehow, also predetermines its continuation. After its tremendous inauguration last year, the annual Moonee Valley “Una Razza Una Fazza” Greek Italian Festival is returning for an il grande spettacolo on 27 October. An initiative of the Greek Orthodox Parish of Saint Dimitrios, Moonee Ponds, the Festival aims to celebrate the unique contributions made to the city of Moonee Valley by two of its most venerable and vibrant migrant communities: the Greeks and the Italians.

The “Una Razza Una Fazza” Greek Italian Festival truly is a premier multicultural event for the city of Moonee Valley. Greek and Italian artists, musicians, actors will collaborate in order to showcase and share each other’s cultures, memories and experiences, celebrating diversity and focusing on what we all have in common, a love of tradition, community, and let’s face it, the majority of times, of ourselves.

Italian bands, dancers, musicians, magicians and entertainers will share the stage with Greek dancers, traditional instrument players and singers, facing off tsamiko with the  tarantella, (for as the immensely talented people from the Rustica Project able reminded enthralled crowds at the Festival last year, there IS such a thing as demotic Italian music beyond the Chicken Dance (which is actually Swiss), Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra) while in the children’s tent, younger members of the community can enjoy face painting, pairing VR Games with Italian Dancing and specialised early learning activities.

While Greek-Australian panigyri mainstays such as the souvlaki and loukoumades will make themselves manifest, this year, Italian cuisine will also be purveyed, with disputation as to its ultimate origin mandatory rather than discouraged.

Paying homage to the reverence both the Italian and Greek communities share for Saint Dimitrios, an exhibition of rare and old Orthodox icons will be held in the Church Hall. These icons are part of my own collection. Dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, come mainly from Asia Minor and the Greek-speaking regions of the former Russian Empire, especially from the Black Sea region now comprising parts of modern Russia and Ukraine. These too are contested regions where the confluence of linguistic, ethnic and religious conflicts in yet to be resolved.

These icons, of diverse styles and iconographic traditions, some of which were placed in iconostasis of holy churches, have their own harrowing stories to tell; they were hidden during the years of the Soviet rule so that they would not be destroyed or vandalised and were guarded with reverence and with many risks by the faithful. They serve to remind us that the multicultural harmony that we enjoy in this country should not be taken for granted, but rather, cherished, preserved, defended and celebrated, which is exactly what the parish festival seeks to accomplish.

While all of the above is well and good,  both the timing of the Festival and its hybrid nature, being held as it is, one day before the 28th of October, the anniversary of OXI Day, which commemorates the Greek nation’s courageous stance against the Invasion of Greece by Fascist Italy, have given rise to questions. Is it in poor taste to celebrate with one’s erstwhile enemies a day before the anniversary of their aggression? Absolutely not. Here the word “erstwhile” is the key. At a time when ethnic conflicts in the region fester and simmer, it is a testament both to the vitality and the humanity of the Greek and Italian peoples that they can put the past behind them and join together to venerate Saint Dimitrios. Forgiveness and reconciliation are not mere buzz words. They lie at the core of our system of beliefs. After all, what better opportunity to remind our forgiven and reconciled brethren who won the War than in public, again and again and again?  Saint Dimitrios has thought of everything.

The Moonee Valley “Una Razza Una Fazza” Festival will be held on Sunday 27 October 2024, between 11am-5pm on Gladstone Street, Moonee Ponds, outside Saint Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church.

DEAN KALIMNIOU

kalymnios@hotmail.com

First published in NKEE on Saturday 26 October 2024