The Feast 2010: Random Glimpses

Great Pizza. I mean seriously, a summer night, beer and pizza, is there anything better. Eating it in the street, enjoying the night air, seeing friends and neighbors. Plus, just an excellent slice!

After being broken Wednesday, the opening day of the Feast with sales of about 600, Friday night was 680 and Saturday was nearly 800. In fact, they could have sold more but the Rice Ball crew shut it down so members could attend the Ferris High School reunion.

Urban planning comes to the Feast. Barricades were set up in front of the Rice Ball and Zeppolle stand, arguably the most popular stands at the Feast. Lines would stretch out into the crowd, obstructing flow. The barricades formed a serpentine line. People waited patiently. People flowed patiently.

You can take this picture every year. What says Feast more than sausage sandwich. Excellent of course.

Notice the 125th ornament. A century and a quarter, that's the birthday year for Holy Rosary, considered the oldest Italian parish in New Jersey.

It was rainy some on Sunday, the final night of the Feast. Only 360’s day until my next Rice Ball. I just like the way the façade of the church looked. People had been using beads, or strings with knots, to count prayers for centuries before Catholic legend says that the Blessed Mother gave the secret of the Rosary to Saint Dominic in 1214. I recently read a great book by Gary Wills on the rosary. It’s been on my mind. This church is dedicated to devotion, the essence of Roman Catholic obsession with Mariology. The plastic banners go up every year, the staute in its alcove in the exterior keeps watch on us.

I didn’t see the procession, but I was informed that the statute is no longer on a cart, but on a rack so it can be carried. In addition, the trellises have been restored, to make it more authentic, how it used to be.

Sashes of the Maria S.S. (“santissima”) Dell'Assunta Society, which means Mary Most Holy of the Assumption Society. These say from the 1930s. The society was started in 1902 when Michael Colassurdo, convinced his fellow piasanos from Morrone Del Sannio to join him in forming a club, based on a similar organization in Morrone, Italy that was centuries old. Its purpose was to promote Devotion to the Blessed Mother of Jesus Christ in the incarnation of Her Assumption and perform charitable work for the community. The main activity was to hold the Feast in mid-August. Essentially, the Colassurdo’s involvement in the Feast goes back centuries, and spans two continents. For more on this history, click here.

Lemoncello or some such thing it’s called. I did shots with the Callusardo family, who brought the feast to Jersey City early in the last century and continues the tradition to this day. This Italian concoction was new to me, it’s some mixture of grain alcohol and lemons, they soak lemons in the booze over night—made fresh right over on Brunswick street. Carmine told me the story. Yes, as with most Italian delicacies, there’s a story. I didn’t quite get all the details. It’s strong, a tart rush of alcohol. This lemon saturated warmth rumbles beneath your skin. I didn’t like it, so I had another Apparently it’s lemon rind that soaks in the grain alcohol.. After the second I understood the appeal. I had a third before going home. Thus another annual tradition is born of the Feast.