03/19/2024
Long post, almost an article lol, about the significance of Saint Joseph’s Day in our culture and in my life…🫶🏽🙏🏽🇮🇹🙏🏽🫶🏽 Buona Festa di San Giuseppe e Buona Festa Del Papa in Italia 🫶🏽🙏🏽🇮🇹🙏🏽🫶🏽
Today in Italy, and in Italian American communities and homes around the world, we celebrate Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary, Father of the Church. We also take this day to celebrate all fathers, in his honor.
Being a Joseph in an Italian-American family, and growing up in a heavily Italian American neighborhood of “Down Neck” Newark NJ, I remember as far back as I can recall feeling such a sense of pride on this day. Everyone in your family would call to wish you a “Happy Saint Joseph Day” “Happy Name Day” or “Buon’Onomastico!” Even the neighbors would greet you in the street with the same blessings; in our neighborhood all the families knew one another and had history together, “Down Neck” we were all a family regardless of blood line or family tree and it was beautiful to experience as a kid.
My Great Grandmother Assunta “Susie”, Great Aunt Nicolina “Nicky” and Grandmother Rosemarie “Roro”, all on my fathers side, would make a special meal for me and my Dad also Joe, also named after his father Joe Sr, who had passed when my Dad was a young boy. This dynamic trio of women, made of a mix of Italian steel and lace doilies, would make (and argue over) stuffed artichokes, pasta aglio-oglio with sardines and pasta marinara for me and my mother because ummm, non mi piace sardi lol and no meat during lent on holy days, Wednesdays or Fridays, cause Jesus said! 😜They would have placed order weeks in advance to buy special Zeppole di San Giuseppe from Cuccuzellas bakery, the local bakery that was directly in between our house and theirs, which were a block away from one another. I can still feel the tug on my ear (another tradition that I can’t seem to find any significance for but definitely is a thing lol) as they would say “Happy Saint Joseph’s Day! God Bless!” Aunt Nicky had a particularly strong hand from years of baking, crocheting, sewing…and threatening unwanted solicitors with an ice pick that she deftly kept hidden in plane sight in her pencil box next to the phone at the front door 🤣🤣🤣 (Don’t mess with Italian chicks from Newark mmmk!)
It’s random days and random things like Aunt Nicky being so excited to tug my ear that also tug on my heart. No matter what age, or what I was doing in life, if I was in NJ I HAD to stop by her house so she could pull my ear and to pick up a Zeppole; something that seemed so common place, and sometimes inconvenient as I grew older and was “busy” - I would give an ear, arm, or leg, to feel that tug one more time. Youth = Ignorance - I wish we could know when we are kids just how much these moments mean to our elders, and how much they will one day mean to us when they are gone. (((Yes I’m crying now))) I also hope my family and friends know just how very much I appreciate and love them now as well!
I am so blessed to have grown up with such a loving family, in a caring and nurturing neighborhood, and in a church community Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church - Newark, NJ that honored our traditions and displayed the importance of our ancestry and heritage full force. It made me the man I am today and was the main inspiration when I founded Heritage Concert Series and why I find it so important to keep and respect these traditions, rituals, and their history alive.
I am fully aware that without the amazing family, friends and community I grew up with, and am surrounded by till today, I would not live the life of privilege I do. I have been blessed by my ancestors to be living out my dreams and seeing them come true on a regular basis on some of the greatest stages in the world! I am living my passion because my ancestors put aside theirs and deferred their dreams in exchange for the hope that one day their children’s children’s lives would be far better than they could ever imagine. What an amazing gift!!! 🙏🏽🫶🏽
OK - That’s enough of my ranting - and crying lol below are some of the traditions typical to our feast day and a glimpse into our Italian American life! Much love to all - Joseph
Traditional celebrations are the building of elaborate home altars filled with icons, gifts, and most importantly food! It is said to have begun by the Sicilians who prayed to St Joseph to save them from famine and drought; their prayers were answered when the rains came and their crops saved. The Fava bean playing significance because it was this crop that saved most of them from starvation. This is alsowhy some will also carry blessed dried fava for good fortune. Another of the traditional food items significant to this feast is the Zeppole di San Giuseppe and Sfinci 🤤. Other traditions include wearing red clothing for good luck, eating foods made with breadcrumbs to signify Joseph’s work as a carpenter, and in remembrance of the holy family being turned away by all of the proprietors of the inn’s at christmas we do acts of service to the poor
