Event(s): North End Feast Schedule

It’s that time of year again!!!  It’s Feast and Procession time in the North End.  For those of you not from Boston, the North End is Boston’s Italian section and in its rich traditions the feasts and processions are how the neighborhood pays respect and honor’s the patron Saints that watch over us.  If you are from around here and have never been you have no idea what you are missing I have been going to them for  10+ years now.  How often can you close off multiple city blocks to traffic and have parades!  I will be attempting to attend all the feasts this year for at least the Sunday of each one to photograph and document it.  I know my good friend Rich Beaubien and I already have the Fisherman’s Feast bookmarked!  The photos you see in this post are all from last years Fisherman’s Feast that we shot together along with our friend Jonathan.  It was a long HOT day in Boston and we followed the procession most of the way through the streets, and as you can see we were right up there with the Madonna.  It is a street photographer’s dream!  My one word of advise, to echo the great Jay Maisel, one camera, one lens.  Travel light.  We unfortunately weren’t traveling all that light (or at least I wasn’t) because of another photowalk that the three of us participated in earlier in the day.

Without further delay here is this year’s schedule.

July

1. July 11, 2010 Madonna Del Grazie – Procession only 2:00pm, North Square
2. July 18, 2010 St. Rocco – Procession only 1:00pm, Prince Street
3. July 23-25, 2010 St. Joseph – Sunday Procession 1:00pm, Hanover and Battery Streets
4. July 30-August 1, 2010 St. Agrippina – Sunday Procession 1:00pm, Hanover and Battery Streets

These are some of the smaller events.  The two big ones follow in August with the Fisherman’s Feast and the Feast of St. Anthony.

August

1. August 6-8, 2010 Madonna Della Cava – Sunday Procession 1:00pm, Hanover and Battery Streets
2. August 12-15, 2010 Madonna Del Soccorso – Fisherman’s Feast – Sunday Procession 1:00pm, North, Fleet and Lewis Streets
3. August 22, 2010 St. Dominic – Procession only 2:00pm North Square
4. August 27-29, 2010 St. Anthony – Sunday Procession 12:00pm, Endicott and Thacher Streets
5. August 30, 2010 St. Lucy – Monday Procession Only 5:00pm, Endicott Street

September

1. September 12, 2010 St Rosalie – Procession Only 1:00pm, North Square

I hope that you all get a chance to come out and experience this tradition first hand as a fellow Italian, I always look forward to this time of year.  The amount of pride that is displayed in this neighborhood, well you just can’t help but leave with some of it!