St. Joseph Altars - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1589801407 ISBN 13: 9781589801400

Publisher: Pelican Publishing, 2003

Synopsis

The beautiful and lively traditional marking of generosity as celebrated in New Orleans each March 19.

  

The tradition of St. Joseph’s Day began after a severe drought in Sicily in the middle ages. In desperation, people asked St. Joseph, their patron, to intervene. They promised that if rain came they would prepare a big feast in his honor. In gratitude for prayers answered with rain, huge banquet tables were set up in public and poor people were invited to come and eat as much as they wanted. Today, special foods, linens, flowers, and statuary adorn the St. Joseph altars, built with three steps representing the Holy Trinity. Generosity marks this day, as it did the character of Joseph himself.

About this title

About the Author

“Kerri’s work is lush with natural light that makes the images sensual and rich, and transforms the places she photographs into poems.” ―Francis Ford Coppola

  

“One of the great photojournalists of America.” ―John Mariani

  

By the age of fifteen, Kerri McCaffety had already worked for a small-town newspaper and won numerous awards for her poetry. At Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, she majored in both photography and creative writing. She then moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane University’s Newcomb College. There she earned a degree in anthropology with a concentration in ethnographic documentary, going on to photograph people and their environs in Europe, Central Africa, and Haiti.

  

Her first publication, Obituary Cocktail: The Great Saloons of New Orleans¸ was named Book of the Year by the New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association. The same group named McCaffety Author for the Year for 1998. She went on to receive the 1999 Gold Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers and was named one of New Orleans Magazine’s People to Watch that same year. Her works have earned her Gold and Silver Benjamin Franklin Awards, an Alpha award, and two Silver Independent Publisher Book Awards, among other accolades.

  

McCaffety’s writing and photojournalism have appeared in such publications as Oxford American, Town and Country, Historic Traveler, Colonial Homes, Southern Accents, Travel + Leisure, Metropolitan Home, and Louisiana Cultural Vistas. In 2007 and 2008, McCaffety served as features editor for Louisiana Homes and Gardens Magazine. She continues her award-winning work documenting the architectural and cultural history of her adoptive city of New Orleans.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Kerri McCaffety
"Kerri McCaffety's work is lush with natural light that makes the images sensual and rich, and transforms the places she photographs into poems." --Francis Ford Coppola

"Kerri is truly one of America's most exciting photojournalists."
--Emeril Lagasse

"McCaffety knows how to capture the fleeting beauty of a moment."
--Susan Larson, book review editor
New Orleans Times-Picayune

The old Sicilian legend tells that during the Middle Ages Saint Joseph sent rain to save the starving people from a severe drought. In thanks for answering their prayers, the Sicilians made offerings of the finest of their crops to honor their patron saint and to feed the poor--a display of food and faith that continues today.

This delicious and beautiful custom, La Tavola di San Giuseppe, came to America at the dawn of the twentieth century as immigrants formed what is still the largest Sicilian population in the United States in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 120 color photographs taken at thirty separate locations, Kerri McCaffety shows a sparkling array of Saint Joseph altars where flowers, candles, and photographs of lost loved ones crowd around statues of saints on three-tiered shrines piled with biscotti, pane, cuccidati, frittate, and pignolatti.

In addition to describing the spiritual symbolism of the foods found on the altar, this book includes recipes for the most important of the dishes, including a cannoli recipe from Emeril Lagasse. Nineteen recipes collected from local Saint Joseph aficionados, from a Sicilian grandmother to New Orleans' most famous chef, include traditional Italian cookies and sweets, baked fish--a reminder of Christ's Miracle of Multiplication--and bread believed to have the power to calm a storm.

Award-winning writer/photographer Kerri McCaffety captures the splendor and significance of this extraordinary ritual, introducing us not only to the beauty but also the cultural and historical importance of this ancient Sicilian tradition.
Kerri McCaffety is the first-place winner of the 1999 Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Award for a self-illustrated article. The New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association named McCaffety's first book, Obituary Cocktail, Book of the Year for 1998. Her second book, The Majesty of the French Quarter, was called "a vision to behold" by Gambit literary reviewer Julia Kamysz Lane and "easily one of the most handsome coffee table books in years" by the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger. The New Orleans Times-Picayune referred to her third book, The Majesty of St. Charles Avenue, as "fit for royalty." Etouffï¿1/2e, Mon Amour: The Great Restaurants of New Orleans won the top food-photography honor from the New York-based Virtual Gourmet Newsletter. McCaffety, who studied anthropology at Tulane University, is regarded as New Orleans' top photographer and one of the great photographers in America.

From the Inside Flap

Praise for Kerri McCaffety
"Kerri McCaffety's work is lush with natural light that makes the images sensual and rich, and transforms the places she photographs into poems." --Francis Ford Coppola

"Kerri is truly one of America's most exciting photojournalists."
--Emeril Lagasse

"McCaffety knows how to capture the fleeting beauty of a moment."
--Susan Larson, book review editor
New Orleans Times-Picayune

The old Sicilian legend tells that during the Middle Ages Saint Joseph sent rain to save the starving people from a severe drought. In thanks for answering their prayers, the Sicilians made offerings of the finest of their crops to honor their patron saint and to feed the poor--a display of food and faith that continues today.

This delicious and beautiful custom, La Tavola di San Giuseppe, came to America at the dawn of the twentieth century as immigrants formed what is still the largest Sicilian population in the United States in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 120 color photographs taken at thirty separate locations, Kerri McCaffety shows a sparkling array of Saint Joseph altars where flowers, candles, and photographs of lost loved ones crowd around statues of saints on three-tiered shrines piled with biscotti, pane, cuccidati, frittate, and pignolatti.

In addition to describing the spiritual symbolism of the foods found on the altar, this book includes recipes for the most important of the dishes, including a cannoli recipe from Emeril Lagasse. Nineteen recipes collected from local Saint Joseph aficionados, from a Sicilian grandmother to New Orleans' most famous chef, include traditional Italian cookies and sweets, baked fish--a reminder of Christ's Miracle of Multiplication--and bread believed to have the power to calm a storm.

Award-winning writer/photographer Kerri McCaffety captures the splendor and significance of this extraordinary ritual, introducing us not only to the beauty but also the cultural and historical importance of this ancient Sicilian tradition.
Kerri McCaffety is the first-place winner of the 1999 Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Award for a self-illustrated article. The New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association named McCaffety's first book, Obituary Cocktail, Book of the Year for 1998. Her second book, The Majesty of the French Quarter, was called "a vision to behold" by Gambit literary reviewer Julia Kamysz Lane and "easily one of the most handsome coffee table books in years" by the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger. The New Orleans Times-Picayune referred to her third book, The Majesty of St. Charles Avenue, as "fit for royalty." Etouff�e, Mon Amour: The Great Restaurants of New Orleans won the top food-photography honor from the New York-based Virtual Gourmet Newsletter. McCaffety, who studied anthropology at Tulane University, is regarded as New Orleans' top photographer and one of the great photographers in America.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pelican Publishing
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1589801407
• ISBN 13: 9781589801400
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144