St. Joseph Day is upon. As in the past, it is a day of giving thanks to St. Joseph for his interventions on behalf of the creator of the altar and also a day of thinking of those less fortunate. During the years that the Roman Catholic Sicilian immigrants and their descendants have been mounting altars, the altars have transitioned from a private worship, individually owed to St. Joseph to comply with a penitent’s bargain, to a more communal and cultural form of worship. St. Joseph, the patron saint of the island of Sicily, could represent the people of the entire island.
Traditionally the work of the altars had been women’s work. And as more and more women began to go to work full-time outside of the home, the task of creating all of the cookies, breads and other dishes which appear on the traditional altar is very hard to accomplish individually. But communally in church recreational centers, other community centers, and large church meeting rooms, even more elaborate and beautiful altars emerge.
Altars began to appear in more secular locations like stores, bars, restaurants, and even hotel lobbies (see a full map here). Instead of the hands and prayers of many women being joined to create the altar, the cookies and breads became available industrially. Machines could make many thousands of cookies without prayer. But the altar, complete with the requisite cookies and other baked goods, could be purchased and assembled. The traditions of donating the food to the poor and even asking for donations could still be honored, but the altars have really changed. And today many people celebrate St. Joseph Day who are neither of Sicilian descent nor Roman Catholic. It has become a cultural celebration in addition to a religious one. These altars are loose interpretations of the traditional ones, often with the colors of the Italian flag instead of the traditional white three tiered altar.
And besides altars, the traditional New Orleans street celebrations with marchers, floats and favors can be seen around the city. St. Joseph Day, coming 2 days after St. Patrick’s Day, has created a day to celebrate Italian American heritage with the city’s traditional revelry and sense of fun. This includes drinking, throwing bead that are the colors of the Italian flag – white, green and red – and giving away bulbs of garlic and packages of pasta. It is a part of the tradition that everyone can participate in.