Festa Di San Giuseppe
The Municipality of Salemi in collaboration with local associations and Salem citizens, who with dedication and devotion put their manual skills to use to hand down and renew the tradition of St Joseph's loaves.
St Joseph, a loving and charitable father, is thanked for vows requested or graces received, with the Loaves of Bread dinners, but with a lunch dedicated to the Holy Family consisting of 101 dishes.
On a scaffold of iron or wood, columns of woven reeds are erected, covered with laurel twigs and fragrant ‘murtidda’ (boxwood), on which small artistically crafted loaves, oranges and lemons are hung. The central altar, covered with fine linen, houses a representation of the Holy Family surrounded by the ritual breads, the real protagonists of Salemi's dinners. The saints' breads (u cucciddatu, reserved for the Child Jesus, a parma, for the Virgin, and u vastuni, for St Joseph) have a place of honour, while hundreds of small cuddureddi are hung on the structure above the altar.
Tradition has it that the family setting up the altar offers three children representing the Holy Family a 101-course meal of cereals, vegetables, fruit, fish and sweets. After the eating of li santi is finished, the banquet is extended to all those present, including tourists and visitors.
Dinners&Altari, artistic expression, music, storytelling and culture, workshops and tastings await you in one of Italy's most beautiful villages.
