Seven sketches of a Sicilian woman_text. Photography◎Peng Yiping (Abstract)

1. Sicilian men’s requirements for perfect women: say nothing! Even if they see everything and know everything, they have to show that they don’t see anything and don’t know anything. In the movie “The Godfather”, Malon Brando’s clear throat hum means no, blinking his eyelids and slightly lowering his head means that if you touch your forehead with your fingers, it means it is difficult to make a decision. The most common line in the Mafia movie is: nunsacciunnenti (I don’t know anything!) It seems that I can only find the answer from the silence that is better than sound and the unique body language of Sicily.

2. Looking through the newspapers here, we can see that in the conservative Sicilian society, if a woman loses her virginity before marriage, no matter what the reason is, she has only two choices: one is to marry the man, and the other is to choose to escape. Poor families usually want the two to choose the latter, because in this way, the two families can save a considerable amount of wedding banquet. Moreover, if they do not escape, the man is very likely to be in barren mountains or in the back seat of an abandoned car with newspapers covered in car windows.

If the partner is a man she does not love at all, the most pitiful one is the bride. For the sake of the family and men, she must lose her life's happiness and have to give birth to a son to be considered a competent mother. No wonder these Sicilian women regard the role of mother as the only means to retaliate against men and raise their family status. The mother trains her son to love herself only, regard herself as the only ideal woman in the world, and to be enemies with other women. This mother-son relationship based on possessiveness, revenge and blood is even passed down from generation to generation in some villages, and has begun since the birth of the baby.

For mothers who have just given birth to a baby boy, the mother will wash the face of the newborn with the umbilical cord that connects the two, hoping to protect her son and avoid death from others' knives in the future. When the child grows up, the mother will hug the child, suck the child's cheeks, neck, exposed arms, etc., while shouting loudly: I eat you, I will swallow you all!

The way the underworld women treat their husbands who are on the verge of death is different from the ordinary. The mother took her child to kiss his bloody wounds until her mouth and nose were covered with blood, and then she shouted: I want to suck the blood of the murderer in the same way, and I am eager to die!

These blood-related rituals highlight the completely opposite image of these mothers and the perfect woman in their minds - Virgin Mary -, but also convey the dual character of local women in pursuit of light and darkness.

3. What kind of woman will like the mafia?

My question made her stunned, and she suddenly stuttered: You know, women here all have the opportunity to make friends with such men. At the beginning, you will feel as noble as the queen, and you will be attentive to serve you everywhere, and take everything you say seriously! This feeling is very important to Sicilian women.

Why?

Because no one cares what you say at home? What do you feel? Unless you become a mother, until then, what you say will have weight.

What does it feel like to be with such a man?

As God! Because His will represents everything.

The pink girl suddenly stood up, smiled happily, and threw herself into her lover's arms. The man took out the Indian figs he had just bought from his bag, peeled them carefully, and asked his girlfriend to taste a few to relieve the heat before waving goodbye to me. I asked to leave a photo of the woman as a souvenir. The man's eyes were full of pride, and he stood aside and humbly waiting for his goddess. I looked at the backs of the two of them gradually distant, and felt the warmth of the Sicilian sunshine for the first time.
Chapter completed!