POPPY: the flower of the Revolution
the strongest meaning of the poppy is linked to the revolution
and Italians do it better…. ^_^
and even Netflix with “La Casa del Papel” or “The Money Heist” have to come to Italy to draw on our revolutionary blood for a TV series like this
why?
What does the Revolution of “La Casa del Papel” have to deal with the “Revolution of the Poppies”?
it is easy to say ^_^
but if by chance you missed the other fifteen meanings of the poppy and you are curious as a monkey, you can find them HERE
so, let’s get to serious things:
in Italy, April 25 is the Liberation Day
the celebration of the defeat of the Nazis by the partisans
the celebration of revolution
la festa degli italiani
the celebration of memory
of Italians remembering other Italians
the symbol of April 25 is the song “BELLA CIAO”
bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao…
“And if I die as a partisan
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
and if I die as a partisan
then you must bury me
bury me up in the mountain
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
bury me up in the mountain
under the shade of a beautiful flower
and all those who shall pass
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
and all those who shall pass
will tell me “what a beautiful flower!”
this is the flower of the partisan
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
this is the flower of the partisan
who died for freedom!”
and the symbol of partisans is the poppy
it’s the symbol of their death and rebirth
of their red hearts full of fire
poppies are the flowers under which the partisans were buried
in fact, they’re red as the partisans
every year those poppies bloom to remind us of all the Italians who died for our freedom
the same freedom that nowadays seems so vital for us, as we’re locked down in quarantine for an absurd global pandemic
immeasurable
strong
so damn essential
and we keep staying home, waiting for our April 25
April 25 belongs to everybody
it’s apolitical
it’s the celebration of people, of each single individual
it’s the celebration of those who chose resistance
optimism
of those who intimately chose their homeland
and the partisans’ grave
is in these meadows
that are located around us, located everywhere
where they resisted
where they sowed a freer future for us all
that we can’t wait to embrace again
poppy is a free flower
and on this day, April 25, is pinned on the jackets of the Italians
to unite us all
to remind us that we are all together, that we are all Italians
“OH BELLA CIAO”
is the hymn of resistance and freedom
it’s said that this song wasn’t sung by the partisans during the resistance, but that became a symbol later on…
maybe twenty years later
when the war was already over
but Italy wasn’t united yet
we needed something to unite all the different anti-fascist factions,
all the dialects, all the varieties, all the souls
united for real, from North to South under the same flag
united not only against the invaders
but also united to escape the devastation caused by WW2 and by twenty years of Fascism regime
April 25, 2020 is getting closer
and perhaps we still won’t be free
but perhaps we’ll all be closer to each other than yesterday
separated by a mask, a pair of gloves and keeping one-meter distance
separated from the walls of our apartments
but united, as a community
to get out of the devastation that the pandemic will leave around us
in our hearts, in our memory,
and that we will see in the streets when the padlocks will reopen
by Lady Sara
#StayRock@Home
