Greetings! This is a
start. Several gestures right here... see my friend Paolo in full
action!
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Le Corna A brief
history of one of the most famous and infamous Italian gestures "le corna". I
hope you will enjoy this information.
Ronald
Foglietti
For centuries the Italians have been using the gesture "le corna"
(see photos below). Many Italians do not know where it came from but it is
widely used for cursing, demeaning, offending, rejecting the "mal'occhio" (evil
eye) or as a gesture to protect oneself from negative events. And on top of all
this gesture is used to describe those who are cuckolded, cheated or betrayed by
their partner. One of the main sources to recognize the origin of "le corna"
comes from a Greek myth of Pasifae. Pasifae was the wife of Minos king of Crete.
She fell in love with a beautiful white bull given to her husband from Poseidon.
She became infatuated and then possessed by a strong desire to make love to
the white bull. But the bovine did not pay much attention to Pasifae because he
was more interested in his own herd. Therefore Pasifae decided to involve the
famous Cretan inventor and genius Dedalus in order for her to copulate with the
bull. Dedalus built a fake wooden cow covered with leather which resembled a
real animal. Pasifae could then hide in it and finally she was mounted by the
bull. From this eerie union of human and beast was born a half human with the
head of a bull with large size horns. They named this creature Minotaur.
There after the people of Crete start using "le corna" gesture to ridicule
their own king and from that moment on the gesture became widely used all over
the Mediterranean area.
Le corna contro gli
invidiosi e chi mi vuole male!!!
