PRANZO CON I MORTI / LUNCH WITH THE DEAD (2010)
[view gallery] A city of about 175mila people. A city of 200 hectares, one of the largest in Europe, surrounded by nature, composed of innumerable, tiny patches of land, fenced off, placed side by side. The air is saturated with smells lovely scent of flowers essence of incense and candles. A city always silent interrupted from time to time, lonely and anguished cries tears. A city where the slow passage of time remains suspended in the air, in silence, almost motionless, and only for once a year, is filled with his family, future, frantic citizens. For two days each year one week after Orthodox Easter the dead in cemeteries Moldovan gather the family to spend several hours in joy. Relatives arrive serene and smiling, full of cloths and food and prepares the tomb ready for lunch with the dead. The population passes through the narrow streets with their families and prays and blesses round ciambelloni (Colac) topped by long, narrow lighted candles on top and pour a glass of wine in the ground next to the tombstones. At the end of the rite of the dead guests sit around the grave or at a table placed in the fence and start eating, chatting and laughing loudly to the health of their loved ones. It is a very cheerful and lively party but also spiritual. The dead are not only weep and mourn but also to meet and make them participate, at least virtually, to the everyday family life. The dead do not speak but watch from above, partecipate and thank. [view gallery]