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| Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa speaks to a packed audience at the IAM Photos by New York Scugnizzo |
By Giovanni di Napoli
With the Feast of Saint Joseph just a few days away (March 19th), what better way for the Italian American Museum to inaugurate their new event space than with a presentation about the Traditions of Saint Joseph’s Day? Warmly welcomed by the museum’s friendly staff, the venue quickly filled with an enthusiastic audience excited to learn about their ancestral folkways. Museum President Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa spoke at length to the standing room only crowd about his saintly namesake, beginning of course with the origins of the Feast in Sicily.
According to legend, during the Middle Ages a severe draught struck Sicily causing a terrible famine. The people petitioned San Giuseppe for help and through his intercession the crops of fava beans yielded enough food to deliver the hungry populace from starvation. In gratitude, wealthy families set up tables or altars, called la tavulata di San Giuseppe, with food to help those who were less fortunate than themselves. |
| Known as the “lucky bean,” fava was given as a token of luck to the museum’s guests |
Over the centuries the tables have become more and more grand and bountiful. They’re decorated with flowers, fruits and grains (common symbols of fertility) as well as celebratory foods illustrating the Saint’s vocation, such as bread and cakes shaped like carpenter’s tools and bowls of toasted breadcrumbs (mudiga) symbolizing sawdust from his carpentry shop.
In fact, just about everything connected with the tables has some sort of cultural or religious connotation. For example, the altar itself—with its three tiers—stands for the Holy Trinity. It should go without saying that meat is eschewed for Lent and the presence of fava beans is essential.
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Stephanie Trudeau
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Naturally, the tradition was brought to America and is popularly celebrated in places like New York and New Orleans where large numbers of Sicilians settled. Some guests shared their family’s customs, which included lighting bonfires in the town squares and wearing red for good luck. One gentleman described how to prepare a traditional dish from Bari called Saint Joseph’s Pasta or Mafaldine di San Giuseppe. Alluding again to carpentry, the mafalda pasta looks a lot like serrated saw blades. It’s typically served with cooked anchovies and toasted breadcrumbs (i.e. “sawdust”).
Picking up from where Dr. Scelsa left off was special guest speaker Stephanie Trudeau. Ms. Trudeau (who researched the Feast of Saint Joseph in Sicily as part of her 2005 Fulbright project called “Festa, Family and Food”) focused her Power Point presentation on some of the food traditions in Salemi, Sicily—specifically bread making.
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Some wonderful examples of St. Joseph's Day bread were on display
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During her talk, she showed us several examples of private and public altars and the myriad ways bread is used in the celebration. I knew that the loaves could be elaborate, but I had no idea how intricate and complex some could really be. Bread making for Saint Joseph’s Day has evolved into a serious art form. Sicilian women have expertly done with dough what some conventional sculptors do with clay and stone. Imitating exuberant baroque designs and Christian motifs these breads are fashioned into incredible expressions of piety and devotion to the patron of the Universal Church, Sicily, family and the working man.
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More pane di San Giuseppe
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Following Ms. Trudeau was “Baby John” DeLutro, proprietor of Caffé Palermo on Mulberry Street. Mr. Delutro spoke a little about the history of NYC’s Little Italy and his expertise in Sicilian desserts. Keeping with the theme of Saint Joseph Day, he told us the non-biblical story of how San Giuseppe became the patron saint of bakers. According to popular folklore, during the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt, he worked for a time in Alexandria as a baker to support his wife Mary and infant Jesus.
Afterward, guests were invited across the street to Mr. Delutro’s fine establishment to have some coffee and try his delicious zeppole and sfingi, popular southern Italian desserts during the Feast. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful evening.
