The New Edition of Leland's Aradia
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
tation, may have concocted material to sat- isfy the American folklorist who was paying her for information. In spite of this, as Chas S. Clifton demonstrates in his essay “The Significance of Aradia” (pp. 59-80), BOOK REVIEW: Aradia has become a fundamental text in The New Edition of the 20th century Witchcraft revival. A pos- sible source for parts of the Charge of the Leland’s Aradia Goddess, it has influenced many later Neo- Pagan texts and thinkers, including Gerald Aradia, or The Gospel of the Witches B. Gardner or his predecessors in the New by Charles G. Leland Forest coven, Doreen Valiente, and some of Translated by Mario Pazzaglini, PhD and the most influential thealogians in Dianic Dina Pazzaglini; with additional material by Witchcraft. Chas S. Clifton, Robert Mathiesen, and The publication of a new, expanded edi- Robert Chartowich; foreword by Stewart Farrar. tion from Phoenix promises to shed light on Blaine, Washington: Phoenix Publishing, 1998. many aspects of this intriguing document. The product of interdisciplinary collabora- tion, it includes Leland’s original text plus Reviewed by Sabina Magliocco a new translation by Mario Pazzaglini, California State University, Northridge essays by several scholars giving historical and cultural background, and some previ- n 1899, amateur folklorist Charles ously unpublished materials. The book is G. Leland first published Aradia, organized into three sections. Part I I or The Gospel of the Witches, a col- includes essays contextualizing the mater- lection of Italian spells, conjurations and ial: Robert Mathiesen’s “Charles G. Leland legends which he claimed to have obtained and the Witches of Italy: the Origin of from a Florentine witch named Maddalena. Aradia,” Chas S. Clifton’s “The Signifi- Leland translated the texts and strung them cance of Aradia,” and Mario Pazzaglini’s together with interpretations based on the “Leland and the Magical World of Aradia.” prevailing folklore theories of his time, Part II consists of the texts themselves: suggesting that they were survivals of a Leland’s original version, Pazzaglini’s new pagan religion dating back to the days of translation, and a line-by-line translation ancient Rome and Etruria. From the very with the original Italian, a corrected Italian beginning, Aradia has been surrounded by version, the English translation, and anno- controversy. Neither Italian nor American tations. Part III includes commentaries by folklorists have ever taken it seriously. Pazzaglini on magical principles in Aradia Leland was suspected of having fabricated and on the firefly verses, an essay by the text himself, as well as having invented Robert Chartowich entitled “Enigmas of his key informant. Even those who Aradia,” a ballad Leland composed in Ital- accepted her existence believed Maddalena, ian called “La Bella Strega” (“The Beauti- a Florentine fortune-teller of dubious repu- ful Witch”) and a photocopy of a letter sent SABINA MAGLIOCCO 51 to him by Maddalena in 1895. As is almost and Maddalena, and reflects both their inevitable in collaborative edited works, interests. It is apparent that Leland’s own this one is somewhat uneven in tone and views of magic, folklore and ‘survivals’ quality. While the new translation is valu- shaped his editing, translation and interpre- able, and some of the contextualizing mate- tation of Maddalena’s materials. At the rials are very helpful in understanding same time, Maddalena, a consummate for- Aradia as a document, others are more tune-teller, was skilled enough to intuit problematic. Leland’s interests and predilections, and to select and edit material from her own tradi- ESTABLISHING AUTHENTICITY tion which she thought would please her The essays by Robert Mathiesen and Mario patron. Mathiesen makes clear that while Pazzaglini in Part I go a long way towards this does not detract from the text’s authen- clearing up some of the mysteries sur- ticity, it does make it idiosyncratic rather rounding Aradia. In some ways, these are than typical or representative of any Italian among the book’s most valuable contribu- magical folk tradition. tions. Working with Leland’s personal What is quite typical of an Italian peas- papers in the archives of the Historical ant worldview is the oppositional quality of Society of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania the verses. Mathiesen shows how the anti- Museum of Art, and the Library of Con- clerical, anti-hierarchical counter-religion gress, Mathiesen is able to establish that of Aradia is actually in keeping with the Maddalena was a documented historical flavor of much Italian folklore—the voice person, and that she was Leland’s principal of peasants against their historical oppres- informant for Aradia, as well as for Leg- sors, the Church and the landowning elite. ends of Florence (1896) and Etruscan The first part of Mario Pazzaglini’s Roman Remains in Popular Tradition essay “Leland and the Magical World of (1892). In fact, about half of Aradia’s 15 Aradia” (pp. 81-105) further illuminates chapters are actually materials which the peculiarities of the original text of Leland had published in these other works Aradia. In translating Leland’s Italian pas- (p. 35). By closely examining Leland’s sages, Pazzaglini had before him a difficult hand-written, pre-publication draft of the task. He worked from the original manu- texts, Mathiesen concludes that while script, now among Leland’s collected Leland revised much of the English text as papers in Philadelphia. The manuscript is in he went along, the Italian parts show no Leland’s own hand; the ‘original’ which editorial changes, suggesting that he was Maddalena allegedly gave him has never copying them from another source. This been found. The Italian in the manuscript lends some credence to his claims that he has multiple problems which make the received an actual manuscript from Mad- translator’s work especially vexing: errors dalena. in spelling, missing and misused words, But Mathiesen incisively observes that lack of punctuation and diacritical marks, the text of Aradia is clearly intersubjec- and lack of gender agreement between tive—it is the product of the interaction nouns and their modifiers. Pazzaglini between two unique individuals, Leland explains this by suggesting that Leland 52 THE POMEGRANATE 9 • SUMMER 1999 either copied incorrectly, or received a text accurately observes that the Aradia mater- composed by a person who made many ial has very likely been ‘de-Christianized’ errors in writing Italian. Yet these are not or ‘re-paganized’ (p. 93), because actual the sorts of errors usually made by a semi- Italian folk magical charms all have some literate native Italian speaker writing down Christian content. These observations rein- a text. Perhaps the most likely interpreta- force Mathiesen’s hypothesis about the tion Pazzaglini proposes is that the text at idiosyncratic nature of Aradia. some point went from oral into written tra- Pazzaglini finds current Italian ana- dition, and that many errors are the result of logues to some of the chants and verses in mis-hearing Italian or Tuscan dialect Aradia. He points out in this essay and in words. Pazzaglini correctly points out that “The Firefly Verses” (pp. 443-449) that any collection of folk magical incantations several chants closely resemble wide- would most likely have existed originally in spread, well-known Italian children’s dialectical form; yet the rhymes in Aradia rhymes used in counting out, hand-clapping are all close to standard Italian. He infers games, dandling, jumping rope, and catch- that at some point the texts went from ing fireflies—an important clue to the dialect to standard Italian to English—a origin of some of Maddalena’s material. series of steps which leaves a great deal of But unfortunately he presents only a few room for mistranslation, misinterpretation examples of analogues from contemporary and lost meanings. Italian oral tradition. Here is where a Pazzaglini has been able to compare greater knowledge of folklore and ethno- some of the material in graphic methods would Aradia with material have been helpful. What currently in oral tradi- Pazzaglini is necessary here is a tion in Italy, a fascinat- accurately systematic examination ing and worthwhile of multiple variants of endeavor. While some of observes that the these chants to see his informants recog- Aradia material which elements are nized in Aradia general has very likely stable over time and principles pertaining to place, and a comparison the magico-religious been ‘de- of the Aradia material worldview of rural Italy Christianized’ or with all the other ver- (pp. 435- 441), none sions. This is not as dif- reported ever having ‘re-paganized’ … ficult a task as it might heard of the person of because actual seem; such chants are Aradia or of any Italian folk readily collected from witches’ ‘gospel.’ In any speaker of Italian (I fact, the idea of writing magical charms remember many of them down charms and cures all have some from my own child- is an anathema to most hood), and recorded, Italian folk magical Christian content. transcribed examples practitioners. Pazzaglini exist in the Italian Dis- SABINA MAGLIOCCO 53 coteca di Stato and in the archives of the fact these towns are very well-connected Facoltà di Storia delle Tradizioni Popolari through trade and mass media with the at the University of Rome. Yet Pazzaglini European Economic Community and the seems strangely unaware of these sources. outside world, and their folklore has He limits his fieldwork to areas in his native changed to reflect new social realities. Emilia-Romagna, a region of Italy near Many Italian words are either misspelled or Maddalena’s Tuscany, but nevertheless sig- not proofread—strega (‘witch’; singular) nificantly different in dialect and folk cul- and streghe (plural) are misspelled occa- ture. And he oddly refers to both sionally throughout, and on p.