Lost Traditions of Sicilian Jews
The following information is paraphrased from the book “Between Scylla and Charybdis: The Jews in Sicily” by Shlomo Simonsohn. I thought it would be interesting to share this as for the most part, no traditions of Sicilian Jewish culture survive into the present day, but some remain in the historical record. The disappearance of these local traditions is likely in part due to rapid assimilation following exile due to the significantly more numerous Sephardic Jews, who generally never wanted to conform, even partially, to local customs. Most of these were heavily contested by local religious authorities, many of which were Sephardic and did not get along with the local community. These are mostly attested in notarial records where Jews would file complaints against the religious authorities for refusing to continue or perform certain local customs.
During mourning, women would scratch their faces until bleeding.
In Ketubot, there was a tradition where new couples would receive a bed as a gift, and in the case of wealthy families, as much as three separate beds.
Christian mimes were regularly employed to perform at Jewish weddings and other community celebrations.
In Palermo, before their wedding ceremony, brides participated in a ceremony called bunbur where the bride is seated on a podium or chair inside the synagogue. At one point religious authorities denied pregnant brides this custom, which caused the community to lodge a formal complaint.
In Palermo, a funerary custom was to bring the newly dead brought in a coffin to the front of the synagogue, where lamentations and eulogies for the deceased would be recited. Sometimes, for those held in high regard, this would be carried out inside the synagogue itself. Then, the coffin would be carried to the cemetery as the cantors would sing the Psalms.
In Palermo, the sandaq (godfather) used to recite three psalms inside the synagogue.
On Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabba, the hechal were opened and families would come and remain all night, including women, who would kiss the scrolls.
The Shema prayer was loudly recited in the same tradition as in Egypt and Palestine.
On Yom Kippur, the selihot were recited after the main events, and after every prayer Jews prostrated themselves.
In Messina, during weddings after the huppah, the bride would be driven around the Jewish quarter on horseback.
The Jews in Sciacca obtained permission to allow mixed gender dancing.
A funerary tradition in Palermo was heavily contested by religious authorities where a qaddish was recited on the shabbat in the Synagogue 7 days, 40 days, and 1 year after death, regardless of the deceased’s social standing.
2087
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