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Your Weekend: 100th Annual Dell’ Assunta Feast of the Assumption in Westbury

Posted August 13, 2010 by Isabella Chen

Pasta. Pizza. Lasagna. Zeppoles.

Whatever your plans are this weekend, it would be wise to take a detour through Westbury, where the 100th Annual Dell’ Assunta Feast of the Assumption will be celebrated at St. Brigid’s Church (101 Maple Ave., Westbury) from August 12-15.

Aside from heaps of homemade food, the four-day festival will include old-timey games and contests such as grease-pole climbing, sack races, and a soap box derby. Nothing wears the kids down quite like early-1900s era recreation.

You’ll also find Italian-Neapolitan concerts, a mass and procession on August 15, and a firework display on Saturday night.

Oh yeah, and the festival is 100 years old! Here’s some of the history behind the good times:

In the early 1900s, Italian immigrants in the United States worked primarily as gardeners and landscapers on lush estates in the North Shore and Old Westbury.

Italian immigrants in the area near St. Brigid’s wanted to incorporate Italy’s traditional annual “festa,” or festival, back into their lifestyle in the United States, so they began a mutual aid association in order to celebrate this patronal feast, but also to provide aid for each other.

Because the festival in Italy was held to honor the village patron saint, there was much debate over which saint to honor at first. It was when the Catholic cleric suggested that the festival be held in honor of the Blessed Mother that the community representatives decided on the Patron Saint Madonna.

Hence, the first annual Feast of the Madonna’s Assumption was held in 1910 and the Maria SS Dell’ Assunta Society was founded with Nicola Piscitelli of Durazzano as president.

OK, enough learnin’—time to eat.

Tags : dell’ assunta feast of the assumption, italian, st. brigid's, westbury

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