Festa di San Giuseppe

Yesterday was la Festa di San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Day) which is a big feast day in Italy. So if you know anyone with any name descendant from Joseph (like Juisy, Josie, Josephine, Joe, Giuseppa (hi Zia E!) etc.) then you should've called them and given them your best wishes. My sister Josephine, was lucky enough to have fresh zeppole delivered to her home by our lovely Uncle Frank -awwh so sweet!

It was St. Paddy's day on Saturday too - that was quite a day. Around London you could see lots of green clothing, shamrocks hanging from everywhere, kids with faces painted, lots of Irish flags and lots of Guinness being consumed. The pubs were full and there was a lot of dancing and celebrating for the Irish saint. Anyhow, we digress....St.Joseph's Day is celebrated with the usual Catholic stuff, church, prayers, parades and lots of food.

The feast gives thanks to St. Joseph/San Giuseppe for preventing a famine in Sicily during the Middle Ages. According to legend, there was a severe drought, and the people of Sicily prayed for their patron saint to bring them rain. They promised that if he answered their prayers, they would prepare a large feast to honor him. The rain did come, and they prepared a large feast to celebrate. The fava bean was the crop which saved the population from starvation, and is a traditional part of St. Joseph's Day altars and traditions. Giving food to the needy is a St. Joseph's Day custom. And eating a pastry called zeppole -yum!

Zeppole are like flat cream puffs filled with custard or cheese, sprinkled with icing sugar then topped off with a cherry. They are delicious and Cousin Basilio gave me the recipe for them!