Gender-variant identities worldwide: Difference between revisions

[[File:Il femminiello.jpg|thumb|200px|''Il femminiello,'' an oil painting by Giuseppe Bonito (1707-1789) sometime between 1740 and 1760. The femminiello's missing teeth and goitre are signs of poverty and malnutrition, but the red coral necklace represents good fortune.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" />]]

* '''Name of identity:''' ''il femminiello'' (singular), or ''i femminielli'' (plural), meaning "the little female-men." This comes from the word for "woman," with ''-iello'', which is a diminuitive term of endearment, with a masculine ending. This is neither derogatory nor an insult.<ref name="Femminiello Portland">"The Femminiello." ''Portland Art Museum.'' http://portlandartmuseum.us/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=68749;type=101</ref><ref name="NaplesLDM">"The Femminiello in Neapolitan Culture." ''Naples: Life, Death, & Miracles.'' November 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2020. http://www.naplesldm.com/femm.php</ref>

In Italy, the femminielli are people who were assigned male at birth, and who begin to express femininity in mannerisms and clothing preferences from early childhood.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> They continue to do so into old age. However, they do not hide that they were assigned male at birth.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> The locals have always been accepting of the femminielli, and see them as good luck.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /><ref name="NaplesLDM" /> Neapolitans invite a femminiello to come with them when they gamble in order to improve their luck,<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> and mothers ask feminielli to bless their new-born babies.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> There is a Neapolitan proverb: "If you need good luck, get blessed by a queer priest."<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> The femminielli are said to come from all over Europe to Torre del Greco to hold a secret and sacred ceremony once a year, ''filgiata dei femminielli'' ("marriage of the femminielli"), led by priests from a modern continuation of the [[gender-variant identities worldwide#Gallae|Gallae]] priesthood of the goddess Cybele, which came to Rome from western Asia in antiquity.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> The ''filgiata'' has been practiced for centuries, only temporarily suspended during World War II, and then resumed after the war.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> At festivals, femminielli use musical instruments such as bells and tambourines, which also came from the worship of Cybele.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> The remote mountain church at Montevergine is built atop what was once a temple to Cybele. Its icon, the Madonna of Transformation, Mamma Schiavona, "serving mother," is the Catholic syncretization of Cybele. According to legend, in 1256 CE, a mob had beaten a male-male couple, and then Mamma Schiavona miraculously saved the lives of the couple, so they lived happily ever after. Today, she is seen as a patron of transgender people as well. In 2002, a priest at Montevergine threw out a group of pilgrims who were LGBT. Hundreds of pilgrims who were LGBT activists and allies came to Montevergine two weeks later, which established the festival of Candelora on February 2 as also being Femminiello Pride. It is celebrated with the long and energetic tammurriata dance, and a candle-lit procession, by pilgrims who are visibly gender nonconforming.<ref name="RoadsAndKingdoms" />