From The Conversation · Clare Whitton · · 3m
How the Feast of San Gennaro made Italians American
A century-old street festival reveals the long journey from immigrant outsiders to cultural icons.
In brief
A century-old street festival reveals the long journey from immigrant outsiders to cultural icons. The Feast of San Gennaro transformed from a small immigrant religious procession into a million-visitor celebration that helped Italian Americans gain acceptance in New York. Originally reported by The Conversation.
A century of celebration
The Feast of San Gennaro, founded in 1926, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Over a million visitors descend on Mulberry Street each September.
The great Italian migration
Between 1881 and 1920, over 4.5 million Italians immigrated to America. Thousands from southern Italy settled on Manhattan's Lower East Side, forming Little Italy.
Facing discrimination and suspicion
Italian immigrants faced overcrowded tenements, racial discrimination, and religious suspicion. Irish Catholics and Protestants viewed their street processions as too pagan.
The martyred bishop of Naples
San Gennaro was beheaded outside Naples on September 19, AD 305, during the Diocletian Persecutions. Southern Italians have attributed miracles to him ever since.
The miracle of liquefying blood
Since at least 1389, two vials purportedly containing San Gennaro's blood liquefy on his feast days. Italians see this as protection, while solid blood signals catastrophe.
The first feast in 1926
A procession featured a 3-foot statue of San Gennaro with a bone fragment reliquary. Devotees tacked dollar bills to his body, then gathered for roasted chicken.
Police try to shut it down
In 1928, Police Commissioner Joseph Warren banned the procession, calling the dollar bills a profanation. A Supreme Court judge reversed the decision on religious liberty grounds.
Slurs and stereotypes
Dark-skinned southern Italians faced derogatory slurs like "guinea" and "swarthy." Real mafia organizations like the Black Hand reinforced suspicions of criminal behavior.
After the war, everyone joins
By 1949, thousands of non-Italians attended the feast. They watched folk dances and symphonic bands parade beneath new colored string lights in green, white, and red.
Explosive growth in attendance
In the 1960s, chartered buses brought Italians from as far as Maine and Ohio. By the 1970s, the feast drew 3 million visitors a year.
Mafia interference and controversy
In 1996, 19 members of the Genovese crime family were arrested for gambling and stealing money off Gennaro's statue. Some locals petitioned to cancel the festival in 2007.
A tribute to New York itself
Mayor Bloomberg declined to cancel the feast, calling it part of New York itself. Organizers now describe it as a tribute to the city's cultural melting pot.
“The event, he said, was a part of New York itself.”
Honoring those who built the city
The 100th festival honors Italian Americans who contributed to New York's birth. San Gennaro remains a bridge between the diaspora's children and their forefathers.
The essence
The Feast of San Gennaro transformed from a small immigrant religious procession into a million-visitor celebration that helped Italian Americans gain acceptance in New York.
