FESTIVALS AND FAIRS

"CENE (SUPPER) OF SAINT JOSEPH"

FESTIVALS AND FAIRS

If you are in SALEMI around the 19th March, you can attend the Saint Joseph’s Day that occurs every year. The origins of this festival are lost in antiquity. It is a mix of paganism and religion.
On Saint Joseph’s Day, the inhabitants of SALEMI prepare votive altars vesting them with modelled bread: sun, moon, cross, dove, lamb, flower, chalice shaped. The so prepared altars are called “Cene (Suppers) of Saint Joseph” reminding the Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles.
The altars consist of a wooden structure vested with the modelled bread, oranges and lemons. On the altars lay white embroidered altar-cloths on which are put some token object: wine carafe, flowers, candles. At the foot of the altars there is a carpet on which are put a bread lamb, a carafe of water, a white towel.
You can see “Cene (Suppers) of Saint Joseph” also in Mazara even if it is not an old tradition.