Now that’s Italian!

   St. Joseph’s Day brings back fond memories for Tony Rivera.
The Suwanee resident who is half Italian said, “We went to a section of Newark called Down Neck and it was one big party. Street vendors sold everything imaginable from trinkets and religious items to zeppoles, little Italian cakes. There was a procession from our church and they carried St. Joseph statues while the priests blessed the crowds and people filled the church to light candles and pray.” 

   For Lucy Wasieleski of Norcross, the memories are a bit different. The daughter of Sicilian immigrants, she recalls her church in Brooklyn was all Italian, but both priests were Irish, so they co-celebrated Saint Patrick’s and St. Joseph’s days with corned beef and cabbage and lasagna, embracing diversity even way back then.

   “I miss it,” she said, noting that the best Italian connection she’s been able to find in the south is the East 48th Street Bakery at Peachtree Industrial Blvd. and Winter’s Chapel Road. “They import their water from New York, so everything tastes authentic. Sometimes I run down there just to smell it.”

   But she and Rivera can still get in on this big Italian celebration, even down here in the south. Debbie Watts, formerly of Lawrenceville, is the president of La Societa Italiana, and welcomes everyone to participate in what Italians call Festa di San Giuseppe, which happens to be today, March 19.

   This year La Societa Italiana celebrates its most important Holy Day at Our Lady of the Assumption in Sandy Springs. After 11:00 AM Mass, people process to a hall for the Tupa-Tupa, or knocking custom. Three people dress up like the Holy Family and knock on doors until someone welcomes them. They pass around a tray of orange slices, symbolizing the bittersweet in life, and then, because it’s Lent, sit down for a vegetarian meal.

   Celebrating what’s Italian does not stop with Festa di San Giuseppe. Diana Hickson, of Lilburn, served as 2006 chairperson for Carnevale, the Italian version of Mardi Gras. One hundred and thirty guests at the formal masquerade ball raised $17,000 for their main charity, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home, a hospice ministry for terminally ill cancer patients. ( www.olphhome.org ) 

   At their annual bocce tournament, the society raises money for the Special Olympics. And then there are monthly events just for fun: wine making, sausage making, Italian cooking. Sometimes it’s a study of Italian paintings at the High Museum of Art or an evening at the opera.

   Watts said Italian ancestry is not a requirement for membership. Anyone with a love of - or even a curiosity about - what’s Italian is welcome. And if you’d like a little sample before you commit, just run down to the East 48th Street Bakery and take a whiff. (info: 770-517-3687 or www.lasocietaitaliana.org )


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