I'm nearly finished with a great book called 'Hey Paesan!", an anthology of essays and poems from the perspective of gay & lesbian Italian/Sicilian Americans.

I will be posting on it once I'm done, but I did want to comment on a subject I tripped over during my reading, and that was honor killings in Sicily!:eek:

Until now I thought this type of barbaric behavior was the providence of religious extremists, so imagine how appalled I was to find that this was a common practice about one hundred years ago. (I'm still trying to independently verify that.) Interesting and disturbing the parallels between old world Sicilians (which includes my own ancestry) and modern-day religious extremists.

Is it the undue influence of organized religion or heavy value put on the family unit (or both?) that raises virginity to the vaulted (and unhealthy) level where it can be used to justify the killing of a family member?

Ciao amica stephanie. This past summer in Perugia one of my teachers mentioned that men in Sicily(perhaps other parts of Italy)could kill their wives and get away with it just for thinking that they had been unfaithful.:eek: Not sure when this stopped. Sometime around the early 1960's forse. This type of stuff went on in Hispanic countries too. (21 Hispanic countries by the way)

Remember the strange case of Franca Biola la ragazza di Sicilia di 16 0 17 anni who had to leave Sicily for going to the police for being raped and brutalized?!:mad:
Read her story in one of my posts.

Sicily and Spain were once part of a Moor/Saracen empire stretching around the Mediterranean sea. El Cid threw them out of Spain
In 1061 the Normans invaded and ultimately overthrew the rulers.
It is no surprise therefore, that the barbaric idea of 'honour' killings, was once as widespread in Sicily, as it is today in the 'Highly advanced and thoroughly Civilised countries of Islam'

Actually, the Moors were not completly expelled from Spain until the fall of Grenada in 1492. El Cid actually fought for both sides.

As for the subject at hand anthropologists have theorized that the so-called "macho" culture of hispanic and mediterranean cultures are vestiges of Islamic influence. The Spanish brought this across the atlantic where it mingled with local traditions. In Sicily as well as in Southern Spain the Moorish/Islamic influence on culture is still visible in their traditions.

One example of this is the Sicilian tradition of young men or boys holding hands as a sign of friendship. This isn't as common as it once was but it is still seen. This is a very old tradition in the Middle East and even George Bush does it when visiting his Royal Saud buddies.

Due to the fact that Islamic influence still exists in its own way in Sicilian culture, and the apparent deep-seated homophobia of Islamic cultures, I would not be surprised that the 'honor killing' has a muslim origin.

Due to the fact that Islamic influence still exists in its own way in Sicilian culture, and the apparent deep-seated homophobia of Islamic cultures, I would not be surprised that the 'honor killing' has a muslim origin.

Thank you for this post.Some additional history: supposedly Sicily was once considered part of Northern Africa as opposed to Southern Europe; in fact, some argue its location kept it from enjoying much of society's progress during the Renaissance. (I will try to find supporting links later today.) Being a strategic port into Europe, Sicily was occupied by a variety of invaders more often than not. This would include the Greeks, the Romans, the Norman, and even the British as late as the 1800's. So I'm wondering if we can only 'guess-stimate" who had the most influence on Sicilian culture over the ages. (Cue the historians and sociologists)

As an aside, I'm hesitant tacking 'honor killings' onto any particular culture or religion. Islam no more condones honor killing than Christianity approves of stoning adultresses. There are many practicing muslims who are as horrified by these acts. I think when any horror is justified in the name of a god - killings, burnings, sacrifices, crusades - you have to blame a fundamentalist way of thought.

As an aside, I'm hesitant tacking 'honor killings' onto any particular culture or religion. Islam no more condones honor killing than Christianity approves of stoning adultresses.

I agree for the most part, but you also have to consider the age in which these cultural influences were first established - during the Islamic conquests starting in the 7th century - and not current religious viewpoints.

What is considered fundamentalist today was often the norm in centuries past. Both the Islamic conquests of Africa and southern Europe as well as the Crusades are examples. And the age in which Sicily was conquered, Islam was at its most zealous(sorry about the awful pun).

Although there is very little in the Qu'ran on homosexuality, there is a passage in the Hadith (sayings of Muhammad) that calls for death. Put this belief in the context of the 7-8th century and what was once the norm is now considered fundamentalist. Centuries of subjugation both politicaly and religiously, not to mention our Sicilian stubborness, does not help the situation.

This is all so interesting. At any rate being a Spanish major I studied a lot about the history of Spain and like to compare it to the history of Italy which does have a lot of parallels starting before the Roman Empire.

The Arabs in Spain were way far ahead of the rest of Europe at the time and gave Europe many cultural advantages.(The Arabs invented Algebra which is an Arabic word by the way!)
It is estimated that there are anywhere from two thousand to 6 thousand words in Spanish that come from Arabic. Ojala(magari), alfalfa, alberca or any word that starts with "al."

Among the products introduced to Europe through Muslim Spain were: cotton & cotton balls, paper money, clocks, soap, glass mirrors, streat lamps, salt, colored glass, cinommin, deoderant, book bindings, nitric acids, compasses, slide rules, spinning wheals, maps, globes, eye glasses, porcelin, almanacs, encyclopedia's, sergical instruments, citrus and necter friuts(oranges & limes), test tubes, velvet, ceramic tiles, astrolabs, silk, satin, pepper, hankerchiefs, postage stamps, etc.

In Mathematics, Ibn Younus, Ibn Hamza, Bin Akmed, founded symbols and equations, zero, Arabic numeral system, logerisms, 3rd degree equations, triginomic ratio's, calculus and equations- Algebra (Al-Jabeer). Funny how the Romans and Greeks in all their glory did not have the concept of zero. Interestingly enough the Mayas did have the concept of zero and were known as the Greeks of America. Maybe the Mayas should have been known as the Arabs of America!

In Physics, Ibn Younus, Ibn Hathum, established the science of power and mechanics, they described gravity in details long before Newton. They described mechanical properties of geometric bodies, developed the hydrometer, arometer, balance, scale, invented the penjalum.

In chemistry, Al Kindi, Al Razi, atomic theory of matter, developed processes of evaporation, sublimation, crystillation, melting, pigmintation, methods of steal-making, dyeing cloths and textiles, nitro and hydro-cloric acids, amonium, silver nitrade, sodium, chemical process for manufacture of flasks, scales, tools.

In Astronomy, Al Batani, Al Baruni named over 200 stars with Arabic names, calculated length of terrestrial degree, planetary motion, calculated length of terrestrial degree, solar inclination angle, charted orbit of stars and planets.

In medicine, Al Razi, etc. performed gynocology, medical encyclopedias, excetrics, mercury ointment, function of lungs, recognized contagous nature of terbiculosis, distribution of disease, used and described over 200 sergical instruments, described 130 eye diseases.

In pharmacology, they prepared acids, nitrates, toxins, prepared medicines in pills and solutions, shops for perscrimptions, medicine and earbs, alkali, alfalfa, hakeem, jasmine, safran, etc.. all Arabic names.

By the way the the difference between Moors and Arabs is that the Arabs came from Saudia Arabia and the Moors were those people that the Arabs conquered in Northern Africa on their way to Spain. So the Moors adpoted the Muslim reglion and Arabic language and joined the Arabs when they went into Spain in 710 and lasted to that magical year of 1492.

Also many Jews went along with the Arabs into Spain and were treated very well by the Muslims or Arabs. Additionally many people in Spain at the time of the Araba rule were bilingual and bicultural speaking both Arabic and Spanish. Of course there was a small part of Spain in the north that was never conquered and Spain was taking back their territory little by little from the Arabs over the years.

In 1492 the Arabs and Jews were forced to leave Spain if they would not convert to Christianity. Many left but many also stayed secretly practicing their reglion. In Sciily on the other hand the Arabs were allowed to stay after they were conquered or so I have read.

Now compare the Arabic Moore history of Spain to that of Sicily. Sounds all so familiar.

They Arabs and Moores ruled Sicily for 250 years and their influence was nothing short of monumental. Under their administration, the island's population doubled as dozens of towns were founded and cities repopulated. The Arabs changed Sicilian agriculture and cuisine. Their scientific and engineering achievements were remarkable. More significantly, they changed society itself. To this day, many Sicilian social attitudes reflect the profound influence --often in subtle ways-- of the Arabs who ruled a thousand years ago but who (with the Greeks, Romans, Normans and others) are the ancestors of today's Sicilians.