Today’s word of the day is part of our Italian Easter Word series. Each day during the week leading up to Easter, we’ll post a word that is related to this special time of year. Enjoy! 🐰
Pasquetta (feminine, plural: pasquette), which literally translates as little Easter, is the Italian name for Easter Monday.
More formally, this day is also referred to as Lunedì dell’Angelo (Monday of the Angel), Lunedì di Pasqua (Easter Monday) or Lunedì dell’Ottava di Pasqua (Monday of the Eight Days of Easter).
Ogni anno Pasquetta cade in un giorno diverso da quello precedente.
Every year Easter Monday falls on a different day than the previous year.
Traditionally Pasquetta is a day for relaxation in Italy. Many Italian families enjoy packing a picnic filled with Easter Sunday leftovers and heading out to the mountains, countryside, hills or beach for a fun-filled day outdoors. These outdoor excursions are called scampagnate in Italian.
Food that includes eggs, such as the frittata (crustless quiche) or hard-boiled uova (eggs), tends to be a staple, as are classic Italian delicacies such as prosciutto (ham), formaggio (cheese), fresh pane (bread) and vino (wine).
Another tradition is the grigliata (barbecue) where friends gather together to eat and relax in the backyard of somebody’s house.
Unlike Good Friday (Venerdì Santo), Easter Monday is a public holiday in Italy.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
