Referred
to lotto, the beneficiary is the person who receives
the numbers to play even one month, one year or
one century before. He is also called "santon"
(because he contacts the paranormal) or "diavolillo"
(devil) (if he contacts the bad spirits). Tradition
hands down that after his youth, the beneficiary
realizes his capability to receive the numbers,
to evoke the spirits using a magic book and that
he can experience altered states of counsciousness.
People think the beneficiary is an eccentric person,
he is not realistic and practical; he is not interested
in our world problems. Inspite of this, these
characteristics do not make him be a stranger:
he is accepted by all for his divinatory faculties
and he has an important social function. People
offer him gifts and money in order to receive
the numbers to play. Many beneficiaries proved
to be dishonests or unemployeds lokoking for fortune
but we should not believe that every beneficiary
is dishonest. There is an important rule - ordered
by the spirits themselves - among the beneficiary
and the lotto players: the beneficiary can not
play the numbers he receives from the deads. The
beneficiaries have great prestige among the common
people: they never give wrong numbers but the
players can interpret in the wrong way the beneficiary
words and gestures. Even the sneeze of the beneficiary
can correspond to a number that will be chosen
through the Smorfia consultation. Just few women
can be considered beneficiaries as they usually
have the role to interpret one's dreams.
The monk or the hermit, especially when they are
phisically marked, have a divinatory power just
for the fact they lead a spiritual life in the
cloister. He should not use his power for people
vices, but traditionally he is linked to the lotto.
As it happens to the beneficiary, people give
him some gifts or invite him for lunch; it is
told he prefers giving the numbers to women, rather
than to men but in this case we make reference
to popular beliefs.
In reference to their diversity and to the fact
they are not just women or men, the "femminielli"
have their own social function. They are accepted
by people who believe they have got magic powers.
Also the Smorfia pedlar has divinatory powers,
as he always keeps in touch with the numbers book.
You can ask him to interpret your dreams; sometimes
he is therefore identified with the wizard because
he knows the magic rites .
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