International House, New Orleans’ first boutique hotel, celebrates its 28th annual St. Joseph’s Day ritual by offering locals and visitors alike an authentic taste of this joyfully spirited place. On Thursday March 19 from 5 - 7 PM, the hotel will celebrate the Feast of San Giuseppe with Sicilian flair and multi-cultural expression unique to New Orleans. Just outside the hotel’s monumental entrance, a sidewalk café and accordion player magically materializes, serving Italian aperitifs, cocktails like Saint Rosalie and the BELLUCCI, as well as Sicilian pizza (Sfincione) compliments of AYU Bakehouse and traditional cookies from Angelo Brocato. Bringing the ritual vividly to life, the colorfully costumed Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indian children - presented by Queen Cherice Harrison-Nelson - will drum, sing, dance and parade in keeping with ancestral tradition. And Queen Charmaine Neville will grace the soaring hotel lobby with her soaring voice in her rendition of “Shallow Water.” This is how St. Joseph’s Day is honored in exactly one city and one hotel in the world. Oh, and there is one more thing. The Limone di Sorrento is our secret ingredient in the world’s best limoncello. We make it each year from lemons we grow in Bywater. “When sipped just right, it might transport you from our little citrus grove on the banks of the Mississippi to the volcanic hillsides overlooking the Bay of Naples,” says hotel owner Sean Cummings. This video shows the magic. So, Cheers. Cin-cin. Salute! At 6:00 PM, please join Poppy Tooker as she emcees the first ever Judgment di Sorrento. Four of the finest limoncellos - including the original Limoncello di Capri - from the Bay of Naples. Five of the homemade best from New Orleans by Vincent’s, TANA, Osteria Lupo, Italian Barrel and Loa. May the best-tasting win. Just as New Orleans’ Sicilian population practices in private homes and neighborhood churches, International House honors St. Joseph with an elaborate altar created by Britney Penouilh and other gifted artisan-makers from this city’s culinary and cultural communities. Traditional in shape, the three-tiered altar honors the Holy Trinity. A statue of St. Joseph holding the infant Jesus stands at the top tier with delicate lilies below. Sawdust from the carpentry of the exhibit is bottled and placed on the altar, with various tools and symbols entirely made of bread. They intone the edible hagiography of Joseph and Sicily: hammers, nails, citrus, fennel, anise, sesame, figs, crosses, a crown of thorns, hearts and fava beans. Other elements remind us of the withered vines and barren fields that daunted the Sicilian landscape before its people pleaded with St. Joseph for relief. New Orleanians, like their Sicilian counterparts struggling against disasters natural and man-made, are by necessity well-versed in the art of supplication, so much so that locals believe we’ve had Joseph’s ear in the most threatening of times. When human efforts fall short, folks turn to the Patron Saint of Protection - to make life better. Saint Joseph’s miraculous helping hand on behalf of Sicily in times of drought and famine has kept him the preeminent figure of paternal protection. And in New Orleans, his appeal transcends Christianity, inspiring a rich ecclesiastical roster of other spiritual communities, such as Mardi Gras Indians who march on his day every year. The soul of New Orleans is shaped by its rituals - rituals inherited from the earliest immigrants who settled and who still flavor this city every day. Central to this ritual is altar making, a labor of love with age-old reverence for the patron saint of protection. And though we try, no one tells the story of St. Joseph’s Day better than the altar-makers, master bakers and other New Orleanians who have kept these traditions alive. Here, it’s a colorfully sacred and profane mix, at once a devout homage to St. Joseph and also a festive feast day alive with joyful moments that make this city like no other place.
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