Editors Note: The Odyssey of an Emigrant Cradle.

In 1931, my mom Adele was expecting her first born, my brother NinoCesare in the Bleggio of the Val delle Giudicarie. Zio Sandro exercised this Tyolean tradition and crafted a simple cuna that rocked and was replete with heart shaped handles and fluted columns. Nino was to use it for many months after which he was taken up by Mom to follow the pathway of the emigrant to join my dad in New York City. No longer of any use, it hung around in the era, the upper portions of the Tyrolean house, abandoned. But then came my cousins: Angelo, Luigi, Maria and Brunothey all took their turns to be cradled in Zio Sandros cuna. After its happy years of service, it was again relegated to the era, the atticabbandoned and seemingly no longer of any or purpose. In the 1972, while vacationing in the village, I

went up to very old ancestral houseto the stable, la stallanow my bedroom..only to find my dad Agostino and my Zio Maso with hammers in their hands ready to knock it to pieces to make na gabbia dei cunei, a cage for rabbits. S T O PI screamed, grasping it out of their hands...I lovingly dismantled it removing its wooden pegs, packed it in my bags and it flew across the ocean to New York. Reassembledti received Justin as he was brought home from the hospital who then used for first several months of Justins infancythis emigrant cuna then performed its services for Christian and Jeremy and Maria and Joseph. The emigrant Odyssey continued and possibly ended as I then packed it up and returned it to Cavaione, to the stablemy bedroomhonored and cherished and revered as the very symbol of the emigra-

The mountains of Fiemme, in fact, were among the principal centers of sheep herding - especially on the massive Monte Cornon, the mountain which towers over the people of Tessero, Panchia`, Ziano di Fiemme and Predazzo. These pastures hosted shepherds and their flocks since prehistoric times. During their long stays among the pastures and the boulders, those shepherds chose to leave a trace of their presence, leaving us more than 30,000 inscriptions, made during the long hours of that lazy free time which was typical of their work day. The slopes of the Cormon are made up of rough terrain, suitable for grazing, and very steep white cliffs, whose calcareous composition was ideal for the red writing of

Inscriptions of the Shepherds

n the Trentino, the valleys of Fassa, Valsugana, Mochena, the valley of the Tesino, and especially the valley of Fiemme, were localities in which herding sheep and goats was a major occupation.

Left to Right: Justin arriving home; Justin in the Brunelli cuna; The Brunelli cuna in Cavaione, Val Giudicarie

the shepherds, almost as if they were giant outdoor chalkboards, upon which one could jot down one's thoughts. The shepherds, during the summer months, spent long periods in the mountains without ever descending to the valley below. Their work, engaged in by the men in the area, was one of great solitude, and their cliff writing undoubtedly helped them while away the time. Their writing has been well preserved to this day, mainly because the area where they are found was virtually abandoned after 1950, when the sun set on the old pastoral system, the shepherd disappeared, and his subsistence economy gave way to the market economy. The cliff writings were made with a 'bol' ( a dialectical word not readily translated into English). The bol was a shard of hematite, a mineral, reddish in color, which was easily found in several mines of the val di Fiemme, and in the val di Fassa. Among the mines was the one at

29

Ziano di Fiemme, called 'Cava del bol'. The bol was used by the shepherds to mark the fleece of their sheep with a pattern of stripes. In order to have the color adhere tothe rock permanently, the shepherds used a binder, a liquid chosen from water, sheep or goat's milk, saliva or urine. They would put a few drops of the liquid on a flat rock, then rub the bol on the wet stone, producing a thick paste. In some cases, the bol was crushed and the resulting powder was mixed with the liquid. A specially prepared twig was used to do the actual writing. The twig was chewed at one end, softening the fiber until it resembled the bristles of a paintbrush.The color of the writings vary from a very intense red to paler shades, depending on the binder which was used. For example, a dark red resulted when goat's milk was used, perhaps because of its high fat content. From a chronological point of view, the cliff writings have been dated as being written from the mid 1600's until the first half of the twentieth century. The writings are all very much alike but there are some distinct differences, so that they fall into two groups. There were the writings made prior to 1850, i.e. from 1650 to about 1850, contain initials of the writer, some indication of their family, counts of their livestock and a few pictures or symbols, such as hunt scenes, drawings of animals, scenes of everyday life. Later inscriptions (from 1850 to 1950) include the full name of the writer, an indication of his home town, and frequently, messages regarding a cetain event - either a

public event or a milestone in the life of the writer. This occurrence of pastoral graffiti is seldom noted in the historical and cultural records of the Trentino.The inscriptions, however, are a witness to the existence of the shepherds in these localities and they are the means by which those shepherds chose to make known to us their identity and the importance of their work. Written by Eleonora Dolzani, Museo Degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina

30