St. Joseph's Altar, Barese Style

Joey Skee (March 22, 2008)
Celebrating St. Joseph in Brooklyn and some thoughts on lived religion.


March 19th is the Catholic feast day of St. Joseph and in Sicily and through the diaspora, Sicilian devotees assemble temporary domestic altars often as a votive offering in thanks for heavenly intervention. In places like Detroit, New Orleans, and in the Brazo Valley in Texas descendants of Italian immigrants continue the devotional practice of creating elaborate domestic sacred space. I came to know this Sicilian tradition first in New York City, and then in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Comments

i-Italy

Facebook

Google+

Select one to show comments and join the conversation