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Traveler: Merry Christmas from Mulberry Street

Posted in Travel, tagged Christmas, Church of the Most Precious Blood, Little Italy, Mulberry Street on December 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Christmas window display on Mulberry Street. December 25, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

Buon Natale from magical Mulberry Street! These photos were taken very early on Christmas morning in Little Italy after Mass at the Church of the Most Precious Blood and Shrine of San Gennaro. Crèches, Christmas tree ornaments, and an array of amulets to protect against the evil eye were on display in store windows.

Christmas window display on Mulberry Street. December 25, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

There were also snow globes of the holy family and statues of Napoleon as well as espresso sets and cheese graters, but none could be purchased since the shops were closed on Christmas morn.

Christmas window display on Mulberry Street. December 25, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

Inspired by the humility and inclusivity of Pope Francis, ATZ went to Christmas Mass last year for the first time in a very long time. This beautiful church on Mulberry Street was built in 1888 but currently has very few parishioners—there were only about 10 people at the Christmas morning Mass.

Church of the Most Precious Blood and the Shrine of San Gennaro, Mulberry Street. December 25, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

The last time that we there, for the Feast of San Gennaro on September 19th, we took photos of the crowds, the food and the carnival games on Mulberry Street, as well as the procession featuring the Statue of San Gennaro and the interior of the Church of the Most Precious Blood. It was the day of the saint’s martyrdom in the 4th century and thus the procession and the miracle. We were told that at 9:30am in Naples, where his body is preserved, the blood of San Gennaro liquefied.

Amid the empty streets on Christmas morning, the most mysterious sight was this sign on a townhouse door: “Pretending to be a normal person day after day is exhausting.”

Christmas Door on Mulberry Street: “Pretending to be a normal person day after day is exhausting.” December 25, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

Photo Album: 87th Annual Feast of San Gennaro

Posted in Events, festival, tagged Church of the Most Precious Blood, Feast of San Gennaro, Italian feast, Little Italy, San Gennaro, San Gennaro's blood on September 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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This is the last weekend for the 87th Annual Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy, which wraps up on Sunday. Last night, we took these photos of the crowds, the food and the carnival games on Mulberry Street, as well as the procession featuring the Statue of San Gennaro and the interior of the Church of the Most Precious Blood. Yesterday, September 19th, was the day of the saint’s martyrdom in the 4th century and thus the procession and the miracle. We were told that at 9:30am in Naples, where his body is preserved and he is honored as the city’s principal patron, the blood of San Gennaro liquefied.

According to a pamphlet at the Shrine of San Gennaro on Baxter Street

The blood of Saint Gennaro is contained in two glass phials of different shapes and sizes. Both phials are perfectly sealed and are enclosed in a metal case which permits them to be exposed to view. The blood in the larger phial reaches about the halfway mark; in the smaller container only a few drops are seen adhering to the bottom.

And the prodigy? This martyr’s blood, which is normally solidified and of a dark color, occasionally becomes liquid and reddish, sometimes frothing, bubbling up, and increasing in volume. This usually occurs twice a year: on the first Sunday of May, the feast of the transfer of the saint’s relics; also on September 19, the anniversary of the martyrdom

Time Magazine lists the Blood of San Gennaro among the Top 10 religious relics. Belief in the miracle has continued because in years when the blood failed to liquefy, catastrophe struck: the plague of 1527, an earthquake in 1980 and even the defeat of the Napoli soccer club.

San Gennaro: Cannoli, Connie Francis & A High Striker Queen

Posted in festival, Photography, Travel, tagged cannoli, Connie Francis, eating contest, High Striker, Italian feast, Little Italy, San Gennaro, street fair on September 12, 2012| 1 Comment »

It’s that time of year when you get to ride a Ferris wheel set up on the street like in the early 1900s and peer inside apartment windows as you whirl by! The 86th Annual Feast of San Gennaro in New York City’s Little Italy, the world’s most famous street fair, opens on September 13th at 2pm with a Cannoli Eating Contest. If you’ve got the appetite, registration for the contest is now open on Major League Eating’s website. The guy to beat is Patrick Bertoletti, who consumed 32 large cannnoli in six minutes at last year’s festival.

A contingent of Coney Island game and food concessionaires have already decamped from the People’s Playground for Manhattan’s Mulberry Street. Monica the High Striker Queen has packed up her trio of strikers and sundry hammers and prizes, though she says she’ll be back to finish out the season in Coney after the feast ends on September 23rd. This is the spunky gal who told a Voice of America reporter that independent attractions like hers give Coney Island its soul. “Our spirit will live on long after we’re dead, honey. We are the blood, sweat and tears on the block,” said Monica in a feature about Coney’s amusement parks.

Also making the annual pilgrimage to San Gennaro are the proprietors of Gyro Corner, formerly on Coney Island’s Boardwalk and now on the Bowery. They serve different menu items than in Coney: it’s strictly calamari and Mama’s homemade sauce. Cha Cha’s outdoor bar and Steeplechase Park on Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island are now closed for the season, but John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia is also the owner of Cha Cha’s in Bocca Al Lupo Restaurant on Mulberry Street. They are among the more than 35 restaurants and 200 vendors along Mulberry between Houston and Canal and neighboring streets. Buon appetito!

The official feast day marking the anniversary of San Gennaro’s martyrdom is September 19th. After the 5pm Mass at Most Precious Blood Church, the statue of San Gennaro is paraded through the streets. If you go to the feast, make sure to bring crisp new bills, preferably in large denominations, to pin to the beribboned saint, and stop by the Italian American Museum at Mulberry and Grand Streets. At another parade on Saturday, September 15th, legendary singer Connie Francis, born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, will be one of the Grand Marshals riding on a float. Will she serenade the crowd with a medley of her hits from the 1950s and ’60s? A “Meet and Greet” with Connie Francis is scheduled for 4pm on Saturday at the feast’s performance stage at Grand and Mott Streets. The street festival runs from 11am till midnight.

ATZ slide show of the 2009 Feast of San Gennaro…