Assumption of Mary

This is the Christian Ferragosto: the solemnity of the Assumption, that is, the belief that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was taken up into heaven body and soul. The cult developed from the fifth century on and took root in popular devotion long before the Church defined it. The dogma is very recent: Pius XII proclaimed it on November 1, 1950, with the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus. The Orthodox call it the Dormition — the falling asleep of the Virgin — and don’t make it a dogma, but they celebrate it on the same day and with the same solemnity: it’s one of the few great feasts East and West have never quarreled over. The date of August 15 is ancient, and the Italian name we know it by is even older: Ferragosto comes from *feriae Augusti*, the holidays established by the emperor Augustus in 18 BC to give workers a rest after the harvest. The Christian feast settled on top of one that was already there, as has happened before, and neither erased the other: in Italy, August 15 is both the procession and the day trip out of town. In the Smorfia, Our Lady is number eight. If your name is Assunta or Mary, today is your name day — and in the South, Assunta is one of the most common names there are.