Tag: feast
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Prayer In Progress
Working the dough! Be part of our community celebration! CELEBRATE ST. JOSEPH’S DAY Sunday, March 18, 2 p.m. Where: Cacio e Vino, 80 2nd Avenue, New York City Reserve your spot and more details at https://experiencesicily.com/saint-josephs-day-in-new-york-city/.
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Thanking Saint Joseph
CREATE RITUAL LOAVES IN HONOR OF ST. JOSEPH; Sunday, March 11, 11 a.m. at Archestratus Books & Food, Brooklyn; Reserve your spot and more details at https://experiencesicily.com/saint-josephs-day-in-new-york-city/. Why I Celebrate Saint Joseph’s Day Two years ago January, our New York City rent was raised 12%. It was a shock. My husband and I immediately began…
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Sant’Agata Inspires Community in Catania
Catania’s faithful engage in back-breaking activities to illustrate their devotion and honor their patroness, Sant’Agata, during these days of the feast. Through rituals, they emulate her suffering over three days of torture. Meanwhile, the “cittadini” also help each other and are kind and communicative with each other to get through the work. For example, to…
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Celebrating Saint Agatha in Sicily
Viva Sant’Agata! For the next three days in Catania, Sicily’s second largest city, devotees of Sant’Agata will feverishly celebrate the virgin martyr who is identified by iconography where she is carrying her breasts on a plate. The city’s patroness (pictured as Roman soldiers attempted to burn her at the stake in this painting photographed in…
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Cuccìa for Lucia
Cuccìa is a wheat berry (also barely, spelt, or farro) pudding made in honor of the Feast of Santa Lucia, the patron saint of wheat and grain. I made this cuccìa pictured, following the recipe in Giorgio Locatelli’s Made in Sicily cookbook. Cuccìa became the traditional dish of the December 13 feast because during the…
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Crunchy On The Outside
Earlier this week, I mentioned that in the days leading up to and including La Festa di Santa Lucia, Palermitani don’t eat flour-based foods. So what do they eat then? Arancine, of course! Yes, these balls-of-gold are a masterpiece of Palermitano wheat-free street food, and Sicilians of the Conco d’Oro take their arancine very seriously…
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The Famine of 1646
In the days leading up to the Feast of Santa Lucia, December 13, many Sicilians refrain from eating pasta and only eat un-ground wheat grain, or “farro,” that is prepared as a dish called cuccìa. Devotees observe this ritual to remember the severe famine that struck Siracusa and Palermo in 1646. During that time of…
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A Faithful Maiden
Under the ancient Roman calendar, December 13 was the shortest day of the year: the winter solstice. Under our modern Gregorian calendar, the solstice in 2017 falls on December 21. In Sicily, December 13 is still recognized as a celebration of light, when they celebrate the Feast of Santa Lucia, the patron saint of the…
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Light Up the Dark
Please mark your calendar to come celebrate our shared light in New York City on Sunday, Dec. 10 at 2PM at Cacio e Vino, where we’ll have a full luncheon with traditional Sicilian dishes for Santa Lucia, a presentation about the Patroness of Siracusa, and a short live concert of traditional Sicilian songs. Reservation and…