At the Heart of Lent, a Feast

After the pageantry and revelry of Mardi Gras, Louisiana’s Catholics descend into a solemn season of fasting known as Lent.

But each year, these quiet and reflective forty days are interrupted by a feast in honor of St. Joseph, Mary’s husband and the earthly father figure for the child Jesus. On the days leading up to March 19, elaborate altars arise in homes and churches across South Louisiana, piled high with breads and pastries and wine and fruits and vegetables—every culinary indulgence you might imagine, except for meat.

Legend has it that the tradition of St. Joseph Altars dates back to Sicily in the Middle Ages. Sandra Scalise Juneau, author of Celebrating with St. Joseph Altars, says that oral traditions place the time frame somewhere in the twelfth century. After a period of abundance, Sicilians experienced a devastating drought that decimated crops and depleted food for both people and livestock. Sicilians turned to their patron saint, San Giuseppe (St. Joseph), for intercession. The rains eventually came, ending the drought and bringing relief to the people. Once the crops were harvested, Sicilians showed their gratitude to the humble carpenter by holding a feast in his honor and then sharing with those in need.

Through the years, this tradition grew and evolved. The creative displays of vegetables, fruit, and flowers came to represent, according to Juneau, abbondanza—"the abundance of faith, hope, and love with which the devout Sicilians had been blessed.”

Fast forward to the late 1800s, when extreme poverty forced millions of Sicilians to leave their country for opportunities elsewhere. Lured by the promise of work and the hope of a better life, the majority came to America, and many found their way to South Louisiana. As with other immigrant groups, the people brought their traditions to this new land. According to Juneau, the earliest St. Joseph altars in Louisiana were found in the homes of Sicilians living in Orleans, St. Bernard, Jefferson, and Tangipahoa parishes. By the 1920s, the St. Joseph Day celebration was a fixture in Louisiana.

After World War II, Catholic churches began participating in the tradition as well, inviting the community to contribute and gather around larger, even more extravagant altars. In 2023, fifty church parishes and schools (and even a bowling alley) within the Archdiocese of New Orleans welcomed the public to take part in their feasts. Many offered a meal to visitors or sent them home with a gift bag of fava beans, Italian fig cookies, and a St. Joseph prayer card. At the same time, Sicilians across the city opened their homes to relatives and friends to come and enjoy their family altars.

“When I was growing up, my Sicilian grandmother always cooked the St. Joseph meal, but she never had an altar. As a kid, I was enthralled by it, and I have such a devotion to the Holy Family,” said New Orleanian Maria Guastella Held. “Then, we were selling our house. They say if you bury a St. Joseph statue upside down, your house will sell. I did that, and I promised St. Joseph that I would build him an altar if the house sold. It sold in a week, and the very first thing we did was [host] a St. Joseph altar in our new home.” That was in 2000, and Held has been preparing altars nearly every other year since then.

"It’s a labor of love...a lot of work goes into it. It’s incredibly difficult and exhausting, but I miss the years when I don’t have it.” —Guastella Held

Although each altar is as unique as the individuals who create the display, the traditional St. Joseph altar is built in three tiers to symbolize either the Holy Family or the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the belief that God exists as three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The top tier is dedicated to St. Joseph, featuring a statue or image of him, often surrounded by flowers and candles. The other two tiers hold the array of food embellished by flowers, candles, images of religious figures, and sometimes a basket where visitors can place handwritten petitions.

Held’s husband assembles the three tiers for their altar. She and her daughter, Amanda, prepare all the main dishes, and her sister, Rosaria, oversees the baking. “It’s a labor of love,” said Held. “A lot of work goes into it. It’s incredibly difficult and exhausting, but I miss the years when I don’t have it.”

Much of the food displayed on an altar is symbolic of important Christian events or items especially significant to Sicilians. Lemons, for instance, are abundant in Sicily, and represent hospitality. In Catholic tradition, they are also a symbol of fidelity. Tradition has it that if you steal one, you will find a husband or wife. Wine reminds us of the miracle Jesus performed at the wedding at Cana, when he transformed water into wine. Baked fish signifies the day he miraculously fed thousands with only two fish and five loaves of bread. A dish made with breadcrumbs called “Mudica”—which is traditionally served with pasta con le sarde—represents carpenter’s sawdust, and fava beans (locally known as “lucky beans”) are said to have been the only crop to survive the drought, and the food that sustained the Sicilians until St. Joseph’s rains came.

Breads are the most iconic additions to the altar, braided and baked into whimsical shapes, from hammers and saws to doves and shellfish. Occasionally, a bit of Louisiana flair is added in the shape of alligators. There is no shortage of Italian biscotti, cookies, and cakes. Meat is always notably absent from the altar, in abidance of Lenten abstinence.

When asked about her altar, Held described the food in mouthwatering detail, “There is the main dish of Pasta Milanese. I make six to eight pounds of pasta. Then all the vegetables—cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant. Everything is fried and then put into a frittata. There’s also stuffed artichoke and baked fish, and then all the sweets and pastries—the cuccidati (fig cookies), sesame seed cookies, and cakes in the shapes of a bible or a cross. We buy the pignoccata (fried pastry mounds) from Angelo’s Bakery.”

Traditionally, before the St. Joseph altar is blessed and a meal is shared, a Tupa-Tupa (Knock-Knock) ceremony takes place, reenacting the story of Bethlehem and Jesus’ birth. Children are chosen to represent the Holy Family and any additional saints or angels. They then proceed to knock on three doors. At the first two, they are turned away, but the third door is opened wide and the “family” is invited in to enjoy the feast. The priest then blesses the altar and food is served to the Holy Family and saints. Only after they have finished their meal are other guests allowed to eat.

“The whole purpose of the St. Joseph altar is the sharing of blessings received in thanksgiving for relief from famine,” said Juneau. “Since the food has been blessed, there is never any waste of food. In most homes, after the blessing, the meal is shared with family, neighbors, and invited guests, and much of the food is distributed through church parishes to those in need. For the larger St. Joseph altars, hosted by organizations or churches, there is usually a designated charity for which the food is packaged to be delivered.”

This year’s Feast of St. Joseph will be celebrated on and around March 19—check your local Catholic Church’s calendars to learn about how they will be celebrating. Don’t miss New Orleans’s other St. Joseph’s Day-associated events too, including the St. Joseph’s Day parade on March 16 and Super Sunday, when Black Masking “Mardi Gras” Indians dance through the streets of New Orleans, on March 17.

Super Sunday always takes place on the Sunday closest to St. Joseph’s Feast Day, a tradition going back to when, during the season of Lent, Black Masking “Mardi Gras” Indians would reenact their rituals and their dances at night. When the Sicilians came to New Orleans, the historically Black Catholic Church in Tremé, St. Augustine, welcomed the immigrants into their community and congregation—joining in on the St. Joseph’s Day celebrations. Today the Black Masking “Mardi Gras” Indian tradition of Super Sunday is held on the Sunday preceding St. Joseph’s Feast Day.

For more history on St. Joseph altars, with instructions and recipes to make your own, check out Juneau’s book, Celebrating with St. Joseph Altars, available at lsupress.org. You can also contact Juneau directly at 1ssj@att.net or (985) 630-8017 to receive a signed copy.