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 Italy prompted this 20 year project. 

 

Paul Porcelli has filmed 277 festivals in the US, from Denver to Brooklyn. In its heyday before World War II, there were nearly 3,000 feasts. Now there are about 315.

 

A Record of Feast Days Tells Italian-American Story

A Newark teacher's hobby draws interest from RAI producers

 

The Star-Ledger - NJ.com - Newark,NJ,USA
By  Sharon Adarlo 

Star-Ledger Staff

Monday, August 27, 2007

As church bells and firecrackers rang through the air yesterday, Paul Porcelli aimed his camcorder at the two dozen men carrying a Saint Sebastian statue through the streets of Montclair.

Right behind him was a cameraman from an Italian TV station who aimed his lens at Porcelli, recording a story about the Belleville man's nearly 20-year odyssey to preserve on film Catholic festivals in the United States.

"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 Pine Street. It was precisely that festival that inspired him to pick up a camera and start his labor of love in 1988.

All told, he has been to 277 festivals in the country, from Denver to Brooklyn.

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 Brooklyn. "It's a presentation of our tradition, our heritage. It's a lot of what people need to know."

Porcelli, a Newark middle school teacher, has become a walking encyclopedia on the esoterica of festivals, from the "flight of angels" in which girls are pinned to pulleys and carried aloft above the crowd to his church's canopy for Saint Se bastian that was made by three Italian craftsman.

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.

 

 

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (and are Archived) on:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com [Formerly Italy at St Louis] (7 years)

Italia Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com (3 years)

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net