19 March -the Altars of St. Joseph-Le Tavole di San Giuseppe. Gli Altari di San Giuseppe Trailer buffalolore.buffalonet.org/stjoseph/stjoseph.htm ORIGIN OF THE TABLE There is no way to date the …More
19 March -the Altars of St. Joseph-Le Tavole di San Giuseppe.
Gli Altari di San Giuseppe Trailer buffalolore.buffalonet.org/stjoseph/stjoseph.htm
ORIGIN OF THE TABLE
There is no way to date the beginning of the Table. There are many stories as to how the Table began. There is one that the Table was brought to Sicily by a group of Christian Albanians fleeing from the invading Muslim Turks. Called the Arbreshe, they practiced Eastern Orthodox Catholicism. However they never assimilated with the rest of the population so the suggestion that this group was the carrier of the tradition into the rest of the population is doubtful. The most common story is that there was a drought and the people prayed to St. Joseph to end the drought. They promised that if the drought ended they would prepare a feast in his honor to which everyone, especially the poor, would be invited.
A detailed variation of this story was collected at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel R.C. Church in Niagara Falls:
This custom came about in the Middle Ages when there was a terrible drought one year in Sicily. The feudal landowners in desperation turned to St. Joseph, the Patron Saint of Sicily and promised him that if the rains would come they would prepare a big feast in his honor and invite all of the people of the town. When the rains miraculously came the landowners set up huge banquet tables in the public square and invited all the poor and served them themselves. After that the practice spread and from then on, anyone seeking any favors would promise the same thing and invited the poor to their homes. Particularly invited were orphans or elderly folk who did not have anyone to care for them properly. There were always twelve in number. If those invited to attend were orphans, they were referred to in Sicilian as "le Virgineddi" (the little virgins), and if they were elderly as "li vecchierreddi" (the dear old people.)
Le Tavole di San Giuseppe sono grandi tavolate che le famiglie di alcuni paesi del Salento imbandiscono il 19 marzo di ogni anno in onore di San Giuseppe. Queste tavole sono realizzate con diverse pietanze che vanno dai lampascioni alle "rape", dai "vermiceddhri" (tipo di pasta con cavoli) al pesce fritto, dalle pittule alla zeppola, dal pane a forma di grossa ciambella ai finocchi e alle arance. Il tutto viene consumato a mezzogiorno del 19 marzo dai cosiddetti "santi" impersonati da amici o parenti delle famiglie che vanno da un numero minimo di tre (San Giuseppe, Gesù Bambino e la Madonna) a un numero massimo di tredici, sempre comunque di numero dispari.
Gli Altari di San Giuseppe Trailer buffalolore.buffalonet.org/stjoseph/stjoseph.htm
ORIGIN OF THE TABLE
There is no way to date the beginning of the Table. There are many stories as to how the Table began. There is one that the Table was brought to Sicily by a group of Christian Albanians fleeing from the invading Muslim Turks. Called the Arbreshe, they practiced Eastern Orthodox Catholicism. However they never assimilated with the rest of the population so the suggestion that this group was the carrier of the tradition into the rest of the population is doubtful. The most common story is that there was a drought and the people prayed to St. Joseph to end the drought. They promised that if the drought ended they would prepare a feast in his honor to which everyone, especially the poor, would be invited.
A detailed variation of this story was collected at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel R.C. Church in Niagara Falls:
This custom came about in the Middle Ages when there was a terrible drought one year in Sicily. The feudal landowners in desperation turned to St. Joseph, the Patron Saint of Sicily and promised him that if the rains would come they would prepare a big feast in his honor and invite all of the people of the town. When the rains miraculously came the landowners set up huge banquet tables in the public square and invited all the poor and served them themselves. After that the practice spread and from then on, anyone seeking any favors would promise the same thing and invited the poor to their homes. Particularly invited were orphans or elderly folk who did not have anyone to care for them properly. There were always twelve in number. If those invited to attend were orphans, they were referred to in Sicilian as "le Virgineddi" (the little virgins), and if they were elderly as "li vecchierreddi" (the dear old people.)
Le Tavole di San Giuseppe sono grandi tavolate che le famiglie di alcuni paesi del Salento imbandiscono il 19 marzo di ogni anno in onore di San Giuseppe. Queste tavole sono realizzate con diverse pietanze che vanno dai lampascioni alle "rape", dai "vermiceddhri" (tipo di pasta con cavoli) al pesce fritto, dalle pittule alla zeppola, dal pane a forma di grossa ciambella ai finocchi e alle arance. Il tutto viene consumato a mezzogiorno del 19 marzo dai cosiddetti "santi" impersonati da amici o parenti delle famiglie che vanno da un numero minimo di tre (San Giuseppe, Gesù Bambino e la Madonna) a un numero massimo di tredici, sempre comunque di numero dispari.