Monday, May 12, 2008

It's the Mammas who rule...

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd post this photo I took about two weeks ago at the First Communion of a friend's daughter. Having arrived late (as usual), we spent the whole time at the rear of the church looking at the back of everyone's heads. We'd never been to this particular church before, and I was starting to doubt we were in the right one since I couldn't spot our friends anywhere. After the mass we milled about until we finally found them. Turns out this is why we hadn't spotted them earlier: They had been seated just beyond the front row of pews in these reserved seats. You'll have to click on the photo in order to read the signs, which both say: RISERVATI AI GENITORI which means: Reserved for parents.

Makes sense.

But look at the fine print. In the lower right hand corner of the sign in the front row it says: (mamme)--mothers. And in the lower right hand corner of the second row sign it says: (papa')--fathers.

So they reserved the first row for moms while the dads were relegated to the second row?

I've blogged about the mamma mia phenomenon before, and this is a prime example.

You may think I'm a day late in wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day.

Nah.

It doesn't matter when I say it--in Italy, every day is La Festa della Mamma.

3 comments:

Susan Sandmore said...

Interesting! Our daughter just had her first communion and there were so many kids having it at that mass, we had to share a pew. "Only parents and children!" we were told. In other words, extended family must sit elsewhere. All the same, the people we were sharing with squeezed in the grandparents. Sigh.

Mary Witzl said...

This sounds awful, but I don't mind fathers being made to sit in the second row. I figure all the agony of labor has to be worth something; let the guys sit behind us!

Italian mothers really do have a lot in common with Japanese ones. I had a colleague whose mother used to bring him chopped meat and vegetables. She would pick up his dirty laundry and bring him clean things. He was 30 years old and lived almost 40 miles apart from her, so that tells you a lot...

Julie_c said...

That's right - you'd better sit me in the front row!!! :)