.jpg "Feast of Madonna Della Cava")
Feast number two for me is now complete. I had a great time again walking the streets of the North End with my good friend Rich Beaubien documenting the feast. Rich is a wealth of photographic knowledge and an all around good guy to just shoot the breeze with. We arrived at 12:30 for the 1pm start of the procession, and in true Italian fashion, it was a little late in starting! This time we decided to call it a shorter day and we ended our shooting around 5:30, with the mandatory gelato break in the middle. This coming weekend however is the 100th anniversary of the Feast of Madonna del Soccorso or more commonly known around town as The Fisherman’s Feast. The oldest of all the North End feasts, people argue of which is bigger this one or Feast of St. Anthony at the end of the month, it’s a toss up but this is by far my favorite feast of the season. We are planning to be in it for the long haul for this one too, 12 hours of shooting, noon to midnight to capture it all!
A little summation of the history of Madonna Della Cava and why she is celebrated today.
Legend has it that a mute boy in a small Sicilian town was visited by the Madonna in a dream, he was told that if he unearthed her from her tomb that he would no longer be a mute. Finally convincing his family after three visits by the Madonna the towns people set out to unearth her. On the third attempted spot they found her likeness painted on stone. The boy was no longer a mute. Amazed at what happened they tried moving the stone to town to keep the good fortune only to have it start cracking, so instead they left it where it laid and built a shrine around it.
As you can see from the pictures, unlike the other feasts in the North End, this one does not feature a stone statue that is hoisted by a team of volunteers. Rather a elaborate flag baring her likeness is carried. It is still believed that there could be a chance of cracking her today so they instead carry her shrine through the streets as a flag rather then a stone statue.
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datechguy - The Fitchburg festival and procession for the Madonna Della Cava at St. Anthony Di Padua parish is nowhere near the size of the one at the North End but this Sunday we will give it a go.