THE HEART OF CHOPIN

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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If you go to Warsaw, don’t miss visiting the heart of Chopin in the Church of The Holy Cross.

The great composer and pianist lived in Warsaw until the age of twenty; then he moved to Paris where he remained until the end of his young life.

Not everybody knows that Chopin was scared of being buried alive; so before dying, he asked his heart to be explanted and taken to Warsaw.

After his death, the Scottish lady Jane Stirling who was a student and a friend of Chopin, built a sepulchral monument on the tomb where Chopin’s body was buried in Paris, and also paid the expenses for the funeral and the return of his sister Ludwika to Poland.

Ludwika put her brother’s heart into an urn filled with alcohol and took it to Warsaw to be buried in the Church of the Holy Cross.

When I entered that church, the melodious sound of the organ flooded the atmosphere. I took a seat near Chopin’s heart and meditated on life, love and friendship. Then I recollected a few words painted on a wall of the hostel where I was staying:

I’ve travelled,

I’ve discovered,

I’ve changed the world.

Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
-The Vibrations of Words
Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

 

RIVER

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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RIVER

 

The river has emerald-green waters.

It flows calm and marks the border between life and

death.

If I could, I would have built a bridge to unite the two

worlds,

but I cannot. I am too frail, too powerless.

I am a human being and

only the gods can make up such a bridge.

For now we are separated, O my beloved brother,

and Charon keeps ferrying souls across the river.

One day a new light will guide me to you,

and we will stay together in our star, which is the same

as that from where we came.

Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

 

 

FLOWERS

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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My beloved brother,

when you cross the river of eternal life

may the angels strew your way with flowers.

Your heart is pure and stainless

and your soul never will die.

You are now in a faraway land

where the moon always shines

and the sun never sets.

Before long we will hold hands again,

to walk together until the end of space and time!

 

The poem has been excerpted from A Hidden Sicilian History

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
– Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

 

 

 

THE FEAST OF THE PATRON SAINT IN ENNA

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

The pagan worship of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Kore was deeply rooted in Enna until the fifteen century. At the time, besides the Gentiles and the Catholics there were many Muslim families in Enna.

In 1412 the municipality sent a delegation to Venice to buy a statue that replaced the previous one of the goddess Demeter.

As they couldn’t find an effigy portraying the Madonna alone, they bought a wooden sculpture of Maria holding the baby Jesus and shipped it to Sicily by sea.

According to the legend, when the statue arrived at the slopes of Enna, it became so heavy that it was impossible to move it. Then, the wheat reapers came from the nearby fields and put the statue on their shoulders. With them it became light, and they took it to the cathedral. Ever since that time the simulacrum of the Madonna is carried in procession on a gilded litter only by those belonging to the peasantry. People call it ‘The Golden Ship’. The bearers are around one hundred and consider a great honor to carry the Virgin Mary in procession. The fixed, numbered places under the beams that support the litter are assigned to the descendants of the reapers who first brought the statue to Enna and are passed down from generation to generation; therefore it happens that tall and short brethren carry the litter side by side, with the result that some bear much weight and others less or almost nothing. For this reason the ‘Golden Ship’ proceeds with a slanting pace and sometimes gives the impression that it is about to fall on the crowd.

On July 2, the day of the feast, the crowned wooden sculpture of Our Lady covered with gold – rings, bracelets, necklaces, and so on, preceded by the statues of St. Joseph and St. Michael the Archangel, files between two lines of people.

According to some historians, the feast of July 2 is the same as the old one of Demeter. At that time three statues were also carried in procession. Therefore what matters is the religious feeling which does not depend on the different names you may give to the divinity.

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
– Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo