SAINT JOSEPH'S DAY

Sunday was Father’s Day in Italy. It made sense since Joseph was Jesus’ father, and Sunday was his feast day. It was the name day of anyone named Joseph, so we called Joe and wished him “Buona Onomastica.”
It was also the day that many of Sicilian descent in the states celebrated with a big food celebration. It always came in the middle of Lenten fasting, so I remember it well. I especially remember Saint Joseph’s day feasts as kids at my grandmother’s house. We would get together with all the cousins and aunts and uncles and eat a lot of foods we did not eat during the year, like fennel, canoli and sfingi, Italian doughnuts. We kids would have some watered down wine and there would be lots of toasts that would go something like “Viva il San Giuseppe.”
Saint Joseph was a saint that was particularly revered by Sicilians. When there was a favor to be asked of God and when a saint was called on for “intercession” with the big guy, the prayers were often directed to Saint Joseph, with a promise that a ‘big table,’ or “tavolata” would be made to celebrate the granting of the prayer. If the wish was granted, a huge feast with all the guests that the family could manage (and then some!) was held. There was an article in last night’s paper about a family who had asked for help for their son’s health problems and that had their wish granted. So the paper showed a picture of the mother and many friends and relatives who put on the feed for many families in Sciacca in front of a Saint Joseph altar.
We did not know these people so we were not invited ourselves, and we knew that many of our friends were involved with their own families and fathers on this day. So we rode to the nearby town of Salemi that has quite a reputation for celebrating the feast day since Saint Joseph is their patron saint.
The main celebration in town took place in the historic town center, a maze of buildings in the area around the castle that has been shrouded in construction material for as long as we have been here. The roads into the town center were blocked off by police when we tried to go up there. But in looking around for a place to park and take a bus up, we saw a small grouping of tents in a piazza and a lot of people milling around. We had stumbled upon the bus staging area around a small “feria” or gathering of tents full of information and merchandise. We walked around the area and got samples of bread and pasta and took pictures and generally felt satisfied that we had seen the parts of the celebration we had come for. We know if we took the bus up, we might be stuck there for hours, for the main celebration, complete with fireworks and bands, does not take place till after dark, and we were hours away from home. Still I am content with what we saw, and we can visit there again another time.
I remember Saint Joseph’s day bread being made and blessed by the parish priest when I was a kid. Apparently, this town has developed an art form of the bread making. It was just beautiful! The display window pictured was even prettier, probably made by a master artisan of the craft. But the bread itself was too hard for me to eat! I kept my piece to take home to Limoncello, and that is one smart canary, preferring the softer bread I offered him with it. It is still sitting there.