Tuesday,
August 28, 2007
Italian American Catholic Festivals -
Documentary: 20 Years in Making
The
ANNOTICO Report
The
great interest Italians have in Italian American communities and what they
are doing to maintain their traditions and cultural ties to
A
The
Star-Ledger - NJ.com -
By Sharon Adarlo
Star-Ledger
Staff
Monday,
August 27, 2007
As church bells
and firecrackers rang through the air yesterday,
Right behind him
was a cameraman from an Italian TV station who aimed his lens at Porcelli, recording a story about the
"It's an
Italian affair," said Yair Tropen,
a cameraman from Radiotelevisione Italiana
or RAI, the Italian public broadcasting company. "They are interested in
Italian communities and what they are doing."
Porcelli was filming the Saint
Sebastian feast day at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church on
All told, he has
been to 277 festivals in the country, from
Now Italians will
be able to see Porcelli in action and get a glimpse
of how Italian-Americans honor their saints when the segment airs next month.
Tropen and photojournalist
intern Alessandro Antonelli trailed Porcelli as they
dodged balloons, a marching band and the throng of people gathered at the
church.
Raffaello Siniscallo,
a RAI journalist, later will interview Porcelli for
the segment, Antonelli said.
"It's a nice
story about Italians and Italian tradition," Antonelli said.
"Italians don't know how Italian-Americans keep up their traditions."
It's a dwindling
tradition, according to Porcelli. In its heyday before
World War II, there were nearly 3,000 feasts. Now there are about 315.
He was inspired
by his own early memories of the festivals held at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
Church, his home parish. The Porcellis lived across
the street from the church and had front-row seats to the pageantry.
"I remember
looking out of my window," Porcelli said.
"There was the arch of lights that went over the street. There were the
money flower baskets."
But his parish
weathered lean years as the neighborhood became less Italian and people who
started the celebrations died off.
Another factor
was the advent of World War II, when many Italian-Americans went overseas, Por celli said. People just began not holding the festivals
because the men were not around.
But in pockets
around the country, people still are passionate about their patron saints and
the festivals they hold.
"I sing. I
cry. I dance," said Jo seph Santoro, 24, who
participates in two festivals in his native
Porcelli, a
He has amassed a
room full of digital footage and 3,500 photos from past feast days.
"I didn't
think it would grow to be that big," Porcelli
said. "It's al most like a collection -- you know
how people collect baseball cards."
"It's a very
expensive collec tion,"
joked his mother, Emily Por celli.
Sharon
Adarlo may be reached at sadarlo@starledger.com or
(732) 404-8081.
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