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This is our archive of news published on the various pages of the site. Here you can re-
The Easter Resurrection, for Christians, is approaching and as per tradition we give Easter eggs to family and friends. But.... when did the (strictly Christian) tradition of giving the egg as a gift at Easter begin?
Well, the custom of giving an egg as a gift at Easter dates back to the Middle Ages, specifically to Germany. Here, it was the custom among the common people to exchange boiled eggs with herbs or flowers, so that the chalky shell would absorb the colours of the various vegetables used. Among the wealthy and aristocrats, however, it became the custom to have them created in silver, platinum or gold and to decorate them.
The first to give chocolate eggs as we know them today was Louis XIV, the Sun King. It was he, in the early 18th century, who first asked his court chocolatier to create a cocoa cream egg.
As far as the gift inside the egg is concerned, there are two conflicting thoughts.
The first thought gives credit to Fabergé, the famous Russian jeweller and goldsmith who created the world-
On the other hand, the other thought gives credit to the people of Turin, who already in the 18th century, perhaps copying Louis XIV began to create chocolate eggs but decorated them, took up the custom of inserting a gift inside the eggs themselves, to make the donated egg more precious.
The fact remains that whether gold or chocolate, it is always nice to receive an Easter egg as a gift. Happy Easter to all.
January 2024
A new year has begun,
in the hope that it will be a year of happiness and above all of peace and serenity, although the events that are unfolding give us much to think about and to worry about.
We think of the thousands of people who are currently affected by the war conflict in the Middle East. By virtue of this, of these people, it comes naturally to us to think and wonder if there are any of our surnames in the countries affected by the conflict.
Unfortunately, despite some research done, to date we do not know if there are any in these countries.
But the fact remains of the curiosity to know how many Matteini there are in the rest of the world. So, as is our wont, we set out to research, and found little data in fact on the spread of the surname, hence of people, in the world. Despite this, we want to share this information with our users, as always, simply out of genealogical curiosity.
Needless to say, the greatest diffusion is in Italy, being an Italian surname, but we must not forget that we have been a people of emigrants, especially since the mid-
Let us begin by saying that in Italy the Matteini surname has its overwhelming majority in Tuscany (even if the origins of the surname are contended by Lucca [Tuscany] and Perugia [Umbria] with no less than 555 families present (2021 data), followed closely by Emilia Romagna with 158 Matteini families.
It is curious to note that these two regions are those with the greatest presence, since in third position we find the region of Lazio with 'just' 51 families, followed by Lombardy with 30, Liguria and Piedmont with 20.
The first three regions listed are those with the greatest presence of families with the surname Matteini. Click here to see the complete list divided by region.
As we mentioned at the beginning, we tried to look for Matteini's presence not only in Italy but also in the rest of the world, finding a little curiosity that we can't help but share..
In fact, according to our research, there is a Matteini family in Thailand and one in Jamaica, countries not exactly around the corner...
Again, to see the complete list of the data we managed to track down, just click here.
Giacomo and Andrea
May 2023
WHEN IS MOTHER'S DAY AND WHY?
Mother's Day. A holiday that many consider to be the most beautiful of all, perhaps because it celebrates the one who gives us life....
But when was Mother's Day born? Historical sources mention a festivity in honour of mothers as far back as Greek Roman times, where mothers were celebrated with the numerous festivities in honour of female deities. This was very prolific among Greek Roman culture, as fertility was celebrated, which was considered very important by both Greeks and Romans. Regarding this, fertility, the Romans attached great importance to it, so much so that women of childbearing age were strictly forbidden to drink wine, on pain of death, because they believed that wine affected women's... fertility. But more about this on another occasion.
As we have said, Mother's Day has very distant origins, but its traces are lost in the dark ages of the Middle Ages, since in this era women were only considered for procreation, nothing more. The only festivities dedicated to women were those celebrated in honour of the motherhood of the Madonna, 'Mater Dei'.
We had to wait until no less than the end of the American Civil War, for at the end of the 1860s an American mother, one Ann Reeves Jarvis, with her daughter Anna, wanted to promote a series of Mother's Days to foster friendship between North and South mothers, which had seen them both deprived, for some, of their children because of the Civil War that had just ended. Specifically, in the beginning these were picnics and convivial moments, but in the early 1900s, their daughter Anna, taking up the legacy of her mother for this initiative, who died in 1905, began to organise events also aimed at mothers, gaining such a following that in 1914 the then US president Wilson made 'Mother's Day' official.
In honour of the death of Ann Jarvis, which occurred in May, President Wilson decreed that the holiday be celebrated on the second Sunday in May, a date that would later be adopted, at different times, in most parts of the world.
many happy birthday mothers.
March 2023
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF AN ENGLISH SOLDIER NAMED HENRY TANDEY HAD NOT GONE OFF TO WAR?
Raise your hand if you know who the English soldier Henry Tandey was, who took part in the First World War conflict... No one, with the exception of graduate historians.
Well, this gentleman, without his knowledge, literally changed the course of History as we know it today. Yes, because it is said, although some historians question whether the story really happened, that Mr Tandey, then a young man of 27, a soldier in the Royal British Army involved in the First World War, one day towards the end of the war, on 28 September 1918 to be precise, in a small village in the north of France called Cambrai, came across a seriously wounded German soldier.
The young Tandey at first, as one would imagine on such occasions, thought better of pointing his rifle at him, but seeing the defenceless German soldier and especially frightened at having a rifle pointed at him, he decided to spare his life, even carrying him on his shoulders to the Red Cross shelter where he was treated and made a full recovery.
Probably, if Private Tandey had had the gift of clairvoyance at that moment, we believe he would have been careful not to save the German soldier's life, because the name of that German soldier, of Austrian origin, was Hadolf Hitler, author of the holocaust and of all the dramatic events that followed the Second World War conflict.
Now. It goes without saying that, to this day, none of us can foresee such events in drama, not least because unfortunately mistakes are only recognised as such 'after' they have been made, and even those passed on 'to the greats' have taught absolutely nothing, but we challenge anyone to say that at least once they have not asked themselves this question:
"How would history (at any level, of anyone) have changed if....?"
If you'd like, we could open a debate on this topic, by sending us your opinion about it by e-
Thank you.
March 2023
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF AN ENGLISH SOLDIER NAMED HENRY TANDEY HAD NOT GONE OFF TO WAR?
Raise your hand if you know who the English soldier Henry Tandey was, who took part in the First World War conflict... No one, with the exception of graduate historians.
Well, this gentleman, without his knowledge, literally changed the course of History as we know it today. Yes, because it is said, although some historians question whether the story really happened, that Mr Tandey, then a young man of 27, a soldier in the Royal British Army involved in the First World War, one day towards the end of the war, on 28 September 1918 to be precise, in a small village in the north of France called Cambrai, came across a seriously wounded German soldier.
The young Tandey at first, as one would imagine on such occasions, thought better of pointing his rifle at him, but seeing the defenceless German soldier and especially frightened at having a rifle pointed at him, he decided to spare his life, even carrying him on his shoulders to the Red Cross shelter where he was treated and made a full recovery.
Probably, if Private Tandey had had the gift of clairvoyance at that moment, we believe he would have been careful not to save the German soldier's life, because the name of that German soldier, of Austrian origin, was Hadolf Hitler, author of the holocaust and of all the dramatic events that followed the Second World War conflict.
Now. It goes without saying that, to this day, none of us can foresee such events in drama, not least because unfortunately mistakes are only recognised as such 'after' they have been made, and even those passed on 'to the greats' have taught absolutely nothing, but we challenge anyone to say that at least once they have not asked themselves this question:
"How would history (at any level, of anyone) have changed if....?"
If you'd like, we could open a debate on this topic, by sending us your opinion about it by e-
Thank you.
April 2022
THE CROSS AS A SYMBOL OF CHRISTIANITY. HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY?
The symbol of the cross, a reminder of Catholic Christianity and how many Catholics use to wear it as an ornamental pendant, has not existed "forever", as one might easily think when referring to Christianity.
In fact, it was only 'born' in the 4th century, in 313 to be precise, thanks to an edict issued by the then Emperor Constantine, who, by recognising the cruciform symbol, granted citizens of the Christian religion full freedom of religious expression, something which until then had been brutally persecuted and repressed.
In fact, the Christian religion, until then, was seen as a clandestine religion, and cryptic images drawn all over the place, the most widespread of which was the symbol of the fish. Why this symbol? Because in Greek the word fish is spelled ichtys, whose acronym stood for Iesous Christos, Theou Yios, Sotér, which translated means Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.
This symbol was chosen not only for its encrypted meaning as described above, but also for the simplicity of its design. In this way the followers of Christianity could easily recognise each other.
It was thanks to Constantine, as mentioned at the beginning, that the symbol of the cross as we know it today was adopted. But why did Constantine adopt this Christian symbol?
Near the Milvian Bridge in Rome, Emperor Constantine and his army had set up camp to fight the usurper of the empire, Maxentius. A few days before the battle, at around midday, they saw two crossed streaks of light appear in the sky, with an inscription in Greek that translated into Latin read: 'In hoc signo vinces', or 'In this sign you will win'.
The following night, Jesus appeared to Constantine and ordered him to adopt the symbol seen in the sky as his own banner. Constantine had the symbol painted on the shields of his soldiers, and as chance would have it (but it would be better to say divine power) in the battle on the Milvian bridge against Maxentius, Constantine and his soldiers won, defeating the army of Maxentius and becoming the only emperor (Maxentius had proclaimed himself emperor).
Following this victory, but above all this divine experience, Constantine embraced the Christian religion, becoming the first Christian emperor.
Published in March 2022
TO WHOM DO WE OWE THE INVENTION OF DEAR, USEFUL TOILET PAPER?
All of us, when we go to the bathroom for our physiological functions, the first thing we check, especially in public restrooms, is that the most useful thing ever invented is present: toilet paper. But perhaps not everyone knows that this brilliant invention is relatively recent, since it was invented "only" in 1857, by an American entrepreneur named Joseph C. Gayetty, who marketed it, as we said, in 1857 under the name of medicated paper.
The adjective given to it by its inventor, "Medicated", was given by the fact that Gayetty launched it on the market promising that its constant use would have solved the problem of... haemorrhoids, a common problem at that time due to the fact that, until then, common newspaper paper was used for "toilet cleaning".
In fact, Gayetty exploited this "proctological" problem, blaming it on the incorrect use of newspaper, but specifically on the presence of ink in it!
Needless to say, the scientific community was very sceptical about this, but despite this justified scepticism, and although there were obviously no miraculous cures as promised, Gayetty's invention was soon appreciated by all users, mainly for its practicality but above all for its hygiene.
Its use was so appreciated that a few years later, in 1891, another American entrepreneur, Seth Wheeler, patented what we commonly see today in our bathrooms, i.e. the toilet paper roll with the "perforated tear", accompanied by a drawing that explained its correct positioning, i.e. with the tear facing outwards.
At this point, however, an obvious question arises in all of us: how did they clean before the invention of paper?
Well, there are reported and sometimes curious information on how our ancestors kept the noble back parts clean, ranging from leaves, to straw, to finish with rags, but according to some theories (there are two lines of thought on this among scholars) before the invention of paper, understood as printed paper, and before it was used for the last time in place of its noblest info-
An account by Seneca mentions a not quite correct use of this contraption. In one of his stories, Seneca describes the death of a Germanic gladiator who, aware of certain death awaiting him in the arena, in order to avoid the challenge that awaited him there, stuck a "tersorium" (this is the name Seneca gives to the contraption) down his throat! Perhaps he was braver than he thought....