{"id":2045,"date":"2025-11-06T14:12:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T12:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andiamocraig.com\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:24:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T12:24:06","slug":"is-animeddas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andiamocraig.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/06\/is-animeddas\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Animeddas"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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On Friday, October 31st we celebrated both Halloween and the local traditional celebration known in this region of Sardinia as Is Animeddas<\/i>. We live in Muravera but the kids go to school in a town that is 10 minutes away called Villaputzu. In Villaputzu, although it is not technically a holiday in the school schedule, none of the kids in primary school go to school. Well.. they do, but together with their friends and parents to say hello to their teachers and collect treats (and at least in Isa’s case, all the teachers were there!!). Then they proceed to peoples’ houses, local shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and even the town hall, politely asking in Sardo (the Sardinian language):

mi das fais is animeddas!\u201d<\/blockquote><\/div> which roughly translated means “give us something for the souls!”<\/p>

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Legend has it that on October 31, the souls of the deceased returned to earth and had free movement among the living. Over time, this belief has taken the form of a real ritual celebrated above all by children who, wandering through the streets of the villages, as if to symbolize the souls of the deceased, knocking on doors and asking for some gifts for the little souls. The phrase that is said is: “mi das fais is animeddas” (give us something for the souls)<\/em><\/p>

The kindergartners usually do go to school where they do fun activities and also typically take a walk around the neighbourhood to collect treats together. I left an opening for Alex to join Isa and her friends instead of being dropped off to school so he promptly took the bait and chose to stay with us.<\/p>

None of the children in Villaputzu wear costumes, nor do they carry around plastic pumpkins for their treats. They wear normal clothes, or maybe the traditional grembiulino such as the one Alex is modelling in the photo below.
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Coming from the Dutch culture where most things (even leisurely activities such as going for coffee with a friend) are planned, I was a bit curious on the night prior to Is Animeddas what exactly<\/em> we were going to do.. I was given the important advice to not dress the kids up in a costume, and I was also told that the kids from Isa’s class would meet together at some point in the morning (around 9:00) at the school, and then walk around the neighbourhood together. There was some insecurity expressed in the group app about the poor weather conditions predicted for the following morning. It was supposed to rain, which resulted in a series of statements along the lines of “well if it rains I will keep (child) at home, and if the weather is okay we will join everyone to collect treats.” The notion that some parents would pull the plug on collecting candies and participating in this seemingly important cultural event because of some rain baffled me; if fun things were put on hold for rain in Holland then there would be a LOT of disappointed children! I told everyone I would go with the kids, rain or shine, and if they had any tips as to what we should say or how we should conform they were welcome. \u00a0(“Don’t forget to bring a pillowcase for the kids! That’s what they put all the candy in!” Noted..)<\/p>

We were in Villaputzu the next morning at 9:00. The streets were buzzing with activity. A large group of moms and kids from Isa’s class had already gathered, holding umbrellas and pillowcases. Not only did everyone show up, they had all taken the time to make little candy \/ nut \/ cracker \/ snack packages to hand out to all the kids in the class. Despite my attempts to conform, no one clued me in to this tradition. Isa and Alex’s pillowcases were full before we even knocked on the first door. Thankfully I have an extremely thoughtful daughter who had taken the initiative that morning to make little drawings for all of her friends and cut them out. She promptly distributed her gifts, which found their way into her friends’ pillowcases. So another lesson learned.. although there may be some hesitation, annoyance, or complaints expressed in advance, everyone turns up in the end — fully prepared, with a good attitude, and with very happy kids in tow. Some of the parents had other obligations (such as work, which I’m learning, most people are indeed busy with in their ‘free’ hours..) so the parents present kept an eye on everyone’s kids. It was so nice to have this small community also keeping an eye on Alex to make sure he didn’t linger too long in someone’s kitchen or get left behind at the gift shop where I had bought his school water bottle in August because he wanted to tell the store owner he had the same bottle at home.. (among other moments)
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We spent almost 3 hours with the crowd and with full pillowcases and tired children we bid adieu to the rest of the group (seemingly flaky the night before but diehards in the end!) and headed home.<\/span>The first thing the kids did of course was to dump out their pillowcases and assess their treasures. I was feeling all nostalgic, thinking of trick or treating in Normal and coming home after cruising the School street neighbourhood and dumping out my plastic pumpkin. Halloween was always one of my favourite holidays and this might even top it with regard to the intensity of the celebrations (a non-official but publicly accepted day to play hookie from school– amazing!).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\"\"\"\"The fun continued because in Muravera, the 31st is celebrated more in the way that we know as Halloween. Kids go to school and in the afternoon they put on costumes and go trick or treating (this time with the pumpkin bucket, not with the pillowcase, although I did see the cultures collide in some instances). Isabelle was invited to a Halloween party so she got dressed up as a Strega and had a fabulous time with a bunch of girls from her class. She was particularly excited about the fact that this was a party that parents didn’t stay for, \u00a0unlike all of the birthday parties we have attended thus far.\u00a0
Alex helped man the door and hand out candies and we were all thrilled not only about the day’s fun activities, but also about the prospects of two more days of weekend ahead! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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