Of all the pictures I took at Saint Anthony’s Feast in Boston’s North End today, this is my favorite. If you’re not Catholic–or even if you’re a non-observant Catholic or a Catholic who didn’t grow up in an Old World ethnic enclave–it’s easy to be mystified by over-the-top Catholic festivals. Boston’s North End is a tourist magnet for its Italian restaurants, gelato shops, and bakeries, and the North End’s annual saint days, celebrated with much pomp and festivity, are particularly popular with visitors. The look in this woman’s eyes as she hangs a dollar-adorned scapular on a statue of Saint Anthony of Padua, however, says everything you need to know about the spirituality of Italian-American festivals. As Saint Anthony was processed through the North End and then enshrined in an open-air structure on Endicott Street today, believers covered his image with dollar bills–ones, tens, twenties–each one representing a solemn prayer.
It’s easy to scoff at someone else’s beliefs, seeing another’s spirituality as nothing more than superstition: my favorite wry definition of the word “cult,” in fact, is “The house of worship down the street from yours.” But as someone who’s grown fond of my own Buddhist gold guys, I have no right to criticize Catholic devotion. If I’m going to argue that Buddha statues are visual emblems of spiritual attributes, I have to admit the same for Catholic statuary. You might not believe that pinning money on a statue will make your prayers more efficacious…but believe me when I say an entire neighborhood of Italians and a fair share of visitors believe there’s something spiritual about coming out on a hot summer day to do your praying and processing in public.
If nothing else, Italian-American festivals make for great pageantry. The last time I was in Boston’s North End, I’d just graduated and was relieved to spend an evening celebrating in the presence of my people. Today there were no graduations, only an abundance of pomp and (spirited) circumstance. (Click here for more photos from today’s festival.)
Aug 26, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Very nice. It reminds me of the statues they carried in Mexico the time I was there at Easter, only there was no money and a lot more blood. Of course that was the Passion, not the Feast of St. Anthony, which must be much more joyous – think of all the lost things that will be found.
Aug 27, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Yes, yesterday’s feast was entirely bloodless as far as I could tell. Of course, we didn’t stay after dark or for the dancing, so who knows?
But yes, Italian-American feasts seem more akin to Mexican festivals than they are to anything remotely WASPish. I was repeatedly reminded of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book on popular festivals, Dancing in the Streets. Apart from sporting events, mainstream America isn’t much into public displays of communality. That’s what makes North End festivals such a refreshing change of pace.
Aug 31, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Now I will show my ignorance, I didn’t even know they still did that. The first time I saw such a parade was in the movie Godfather II, so I just thought it was a quaint custom.