pinza Archives - Very EATalian

Pinza Veneta - Holiday Cornmeal Cake from Veneto

Here in Italy the holiday season is officially closing with today’s Epiphany festivities and tomorrow people will start taking down their Christmas decorations (if it was up to me, I’d keep’em up all year long!). Today, my family and I will enjoy the pinza leftovers from last night’s Panevin and get together to play boardgames.

As I mentioned in my previous post, pinza is a rustic cake made with polenta flour (which is a bit coarser than cornmeal) and wheat flour and it’s filled with dried fruit such as raisins, figs, dates and flavored with grappa, fennel seeds and orange zest. My mom and my aunt always get together to make it and they take turns mixing the ingredients in the pot, as the dough is quite thick and dense (like polenta!). Since both of them have bad shoulders, I normally step in and help them with the mixing. This time I carefully observed how they make it and …

On the day before Epiphany, the 5th of January, the ancient and rural ritual of Panevin (pan-eh-veen) is still observed around this part of Italy (i.e. in the Friuli and Veneto regions).

Panevin is a big bonfire made with a pile of off-cuts from pruned branches, brushwood, and other old wood destined to be burnt, on top of which an old lady-like puppet made of straws is placed. This puppet, commonly known as “La Vecia” (the old woman), symbolizes all the mishaps and calamities of the previous year (i.e. drought, hale, and anything that ruined the harvest) and “she” is meant to be burnt to give way to a better and luckier year and a plentiful crop. This ritual has also a religious meaning — the fire is supposed to light the way for the Three Kings bearing gifts to Baby Jesus.

Panevin in the making: these pruned grapevine branches will all be piled up to make a huge bonfire.

If a few years ago, it was very common for neighbouring families to set up and burn their own Panevin, these days it’s more common for local organizations to set up a giant bonefire in the town’s piazza or in an open farmland….

Pinza Veneta – Holiday Cornmeal Cake from Veneto

Panevin Bonfire and Vin Brule’ (Italian Mulled Wine)