Going to Midnight Mass

The following is taken from Mario Previ's description of the painting.

Going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve for us children was a break from the usual habit of going to bed very early. We looked especially forward to it as we knew that afterwards, on returning, a sumptuously laid table would be waiting for us with things we would never have eaten again for the rest of the year. In the painting I have brought to a standstill the moment of setting off for Midnight Mass. A moment when each person had a precise job to do: dress the little ones, prepare the oil lamp, place the little statue of Baby Jesus in the bed of hay in the meager little crib. He would soon be born. In the center of the table a terra-cotta bowl with the food, which still today brings to everybody's minds, (especially the emigrants), Christmas. They are called "Versolini", a modest dish made from Ricotta cheese enveloped in cabbage leaves and cooked in a simple sauce.

Outside a small comet was awaiting to accompany them to an ideal grotto, to repeat that ritual that for 2000 years has changed the history of the world.

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Buon Viaggio...........