Friday, March 19, 2010

Happy St. Joseph's Day

Well hello blog friends, I hope you are having a fantastic St. Joseph's Day.  What?  You mean you don't celebrate St. Joseph's Day?  Well,you must not be a Catholic New Orleans Italian girl, like me!  Today is the day we take time to celebrate and give thanks to St. Joseph, who is the patron saint of workers, for protecting Sicilians from the worst famine in their history.  Given that New Orleans has a large population of Sicilian immigrants (my maternal grandfather's family being among them), the traditions that surrounded the feast of St. Joseph are still vastly present in New Orleans today. 

In many churches, parish halls, and even personal residences, you will find elaborate St. Joseph's Altars all over New Orleans on March 19th.  Placed on the altar or at the feet of the St. Joseph statue are breads, cookies, and other pastries that are so beautiful, it's hard to imagine wanting to take them home to eat.  If you were to tour one of the many Altars, you would leave with an Italian cookie and a lucky bean.  The Fava Bean was the only crop that grew in Sicily during the famine, so each year at the Altar you are given a new fava (lucky) bean to keep until the next year.  I have the one my mom mailed to me last year in my wallet!  It seems to be the luckiest Lucky Bean I've ever had - the Saints won the Superbowl!!
Weeks of work goes into putting together these beautiful Altars.  It is a tradition that has lasted for ages, and one that I hope we can continue.  If you want to learn more about the Altars and where you can find one today, click here.

I wish we were home to visit one of the Altars!

12 comments:

  1. I love St Joseph Day! :) Being a Catholic girl myself ;) I celebrate it as well.. I think we have too much in common my dear :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. My hubby's sicilian and my sister in law gave us all lucky beans this year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy St. Joseph's Day! I need a lucky bean myself. Thank you for sharing this lovely Catholic holiday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for sharing this special day with all of us! I could really use a lucky bean! I wish our parish had an altar decorated in honor of St. Joseph

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh I love this post! Today is my mom's birthday, and she is a true Italian Catholic. We love celebrating St. Joseph's day. The altars are amazing, you're right, WEEKS of work go into putting them together. Can you believe all that food? I for one am obsessed with the St. Joseph's cookies on the altars. I love anise (some people hate it) and especially love the Italian cookies with the sesame seeds (know which ones I'm talking about?) Funny thing about the lucky beans, Matt has a COLLECTION of them. HAHA! Happy St. Joseph's Day to you, sweet Jen! XOXO

    ReplyDelete
  6. We buried a statue of St. Joe in our front yard when we listed our house a few months ago, he's supposed to help intervene with the successful sale of your home. We're moving today (yes, I should be helping haul boxes but procrastinating on the computer is so much more fun!) -- what an appropriate day! Have a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  7. How beautiuful! Wow. I'm Italian...but my Dad gave up the Catholic part. : )

    ReplyDelete
  8. I didnt get a chance to go this year and get my little baggie with the lucky bean and the fig cookies:(..booooo

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jen your post takes me back! I haven't been to a St. Joseph's altar in years... I can still remember those yummy little Italian fig cookies with the sprinkles.. and of course the lucky beans!! Btw - loved your NOLA itinerary in your previous post... I can't wait til you move back & we can hang out when I come home for visits!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow - very cool! I am actually going to a St Joseph's party tomorrow! My brother & his family live next door to a family that is Italian and they throw a big party every year. This is my first time attending. Should be fun!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Would love to visit NOLA for St. Joseph's Day. Thank you for your post. I'm an adopted Korean who's stepmother-in-law is Sicilian, so I'm carrying on her tradition with her recipes. Spent 9 hours making 16 loaves of decorative bread yesterday. Northern California: csagirlfriend.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails