Happy Italian Heritage Month everyone
14/10/2020
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About 200 postcard announcements for the April 6th CSBA picnic were mailed this week to members of the Bertucci and Compagno families living in the greater New Orleans area. This was done in honor of our guests from Ustica, Pietro & Pina Bertucci and Salvatore Compagno, who will surely be thrilled to meet their many cousins living here in the NO area. I love mailings like this. It meets a primary goal of the CSBA to reach out to our community and offer an opportunity to rediscover our common Usticese heritage. Even if the recipients never respond in person, they now have a postcard with our website and email addresses and they can pursue that rediscovery at whatever level of interaction suits them. Outreach, in that regard, is money well spent and a great example of annual membership dues put into action. It would have been great to invite all people with Usticesi surnames in the New Orleans area but that number would top 1,000 easily. The CSBA board will definitely review those costs in association with picnic attendance in order to determine if that is a feasible way to move forward with future functions without putting too much strain on society resources. I personally think it is doable and a great way to grow our society and continue to fulfill our mission.
On another note . . . the weekend of the picnic also coincides with the Kenner Italian Heritage Festival http://www.italianheritagefestival.com The Festa will feature a performance by Lena Prima, daughter of Gia Maione and the late Louis Prima. Louis’ mother, Angelina Caravella, was born in Ustica, so Lena is part of our community and she now lives and performs here in New Orleans http://www.wwno.org/post/lena-prima-sings Lena performs that same Saturday from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. And if cheering on one of our own is not enough, the Festa also hosts an extensive photographic exhibit of the Italian families of Kenner with prominent representation by the Maggiore, Palmisano and Cristina families. CSBA will be displaying the society banner at the exhibit and a few of us will be manning the exhibit on Sunday offering genealogical advice. What a great way to extend the weekend fun!
Chris Caravella
President, Congregazione di San Bartolomeo Apostolo
For translation in your language simply clik on the appropriate flag at the top right
Domenica 3 Aprile si è tenuta a Chalmette (Louisiana USA) una imponente sfilata di carri con lanci, in particolar modo,di cavoli, patate, cipolle, carote, mele, banane, ananas ed altri prodotti della terra. E’ il meraviglioso risultato della fusione, nei tempi, di due culture importanti negli Stati Uniti – quella Irlandese e quella Italiana – che manifestano allegramente ogni anno in occasione dei festeggiamenti di San Bernardo.
Ho avuto modo di incontrare tanti italiani a tra questi molti con radici usticesi. Mi hanno accompagnato per un breve giro della cittadina, che conta (dopo Katrina) intorno a 17,000 abitanti, e ho visto molte strade con cognomi a noi familiari: – Palmisano, Licciardi, Manfrè, Compagno, Gallo ed altre che non ho avuto il tempo di riprendere.
[nggallery id=300]Mr Bertucci,
thank you for visiting our Altar on Saturday, March 19, 2011. My husband & I did our first Altar in 1997 because of a promise I had made for a prayer answered. Everyone came together to help with the Altar. My grandmother on my father’s side (Livaccari/Randazzo) had held Altars before I was born & my Aunt Lena helped me with all the traditions and many of the recipes. My father and 2 of his siblings made cookies for the Altar. My husband had already learned to make all the bread for the Altar working at my father’s bakery. A close friend & her parents also helped as their family had done many Altars through the years. My sister’s husband is also from a family that worked on many Altars and they all helped.
My husband then promised 7 more years. The group of family & friends that have helped with the Altar has grown. In 1998, I started making cookies about 2 weeks before the Altar but my father had a stroke the very next day. He passed away and we did that Altar in his memory. There has been a few years since 1997 that we did not have an Altar (our house was for sale, Katrina, my mother was ill/passed away) but even with our 7 years fulfilled, I know we will continue giving an Altar. It is important to share our traditions with our children.
Through the years our prayers & petitions have varied but we are always thankful to St. Joseph.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any additional questions. I do have a photo of my grandmother’s altar (I think it is dated in the mid 1950’s).
Sincerely,
Joel Randazzo Forjet
Felix Forjet, Jr.
