The Story of Sant'Anna

So Sant'Anna falls on July 26th of every year and is my "onomastico" as they call it here in Italy. I am sure Catholics and Christians are well aware of this and how every day is dedicated to a saint or of some religious event. I, on the other hand, was not aware and surely never celebrated it in the States, let alone were my parents aware when they named me. But here in Italy, your "onomastico" is just as important as your birthday.

So, I just have to share how touched I was when my husband's family came to give me their wishes and shower me with gifts. It was a surprise and surely unexpected. I am so happy to have them as my family and they have definitely made my transition here in Italy much easier.

So a little bit that they taught me yesterday about Saint Anna is that she was the mother of the Virgin Mary and the grandmother of Jesus Christ. Pretty big deal right? I would say. =) The story bears that Anna and her husband Giacomo, after years of childlessness, were visited by an angel who told them they would conceive a child. For this, Anna promised to dedicate the child to God's service. Giacomo and Anna were believed to have given Mary to the service when she was three years old. Thus, Anna is known as the patron saint of women in labor.

I love it. I can't believe that I have gone my whole life not knowing the history behind my name. All I ever thought about before was how common my name was and how I wished I had a more unique name. Gosh, doesn't that make me sound so L.A.? haha... Well this was how I thought when I was a kid. Obviously I have gotten over that. But, after hearing this, it makes me appreciate my name even more and it's a nice, wholesome view of names rather than our generation now that only refers to kabalarians.com meaning of names.

Oh, how we have tainted traditions and gone away from the roots of everything and move to the superficial.... It's nice to know that traditions are still followed here.