Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXIX. The Bambino
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heads, the women held up their own babies that
they might see the Royal Infant, a golden crown
on his head, a silver rattle in the shape of a siren
round his neck, and the street boys called out
to one another: “Il Bambino! Il Bambino!”
At the door of San Michele stood the whole
household with roses in their hands to welcome our
guest. The best room in the house had been
turned into a nursery, full of flowers and hung
with garlands of rosemary and ivy. On a table
spread with our best linen cloth burned two wax
candles, for small children do not like to be left
in the dark. In a corner of the nursery stood my
Florentine Madonna, hugging her own baby and
from the walls two putti of Luca della Robbia and
a Holy Virgin of Mino da Fiesole looked down
upon the cradle. From the ceiling burned the
holy lamp, woe to the house if it ever flickered
and went out, it meant the death of its owner
before the year was over. By the cradle lay a
few humble toys, such as our village could
produce, to keep company with the Bambino; a
bald-headed doll, sole survivor from Giovannina
and Rosina’s childhood, a wooden donkey lent
by Elisa’s eldest girl, a rattle in the shape of a
horn against the evil eye. In a basket under
the table lay asleep Elisa’s cat with her six
new-born kittens, specially brought there for the
occasion. In a huge earthenware jar on the floor
stood a whole bush of rosemary in flower. Do
you know why rosemary? Because when the
Madonna washed the linen of the Infant Jesus
Christ, she hung his little shirt to dry on a bush
of rosemary.
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