Italian Norco family prepares St. Joseph Altar for 27th year
On St. Joseph’s Day, Clara and Tony Perret in Norco do not go to church – the priest and the congregation come to them.
Each year on March 19, the feast day of St. Joseph in the Catholic faith, the family builds a massive three-tiered altar of food in their home to honor the Saint.
Clara has been celebrating St. Joseph’s Day for as long as she can remember. Her grandparents immigrated to the United States from Sicily, where St. Joseph is especially celebrated.
Sicilians are said to have been suffering a severe drought during the middle ages and the community prayed to St. Joseph for help. Soon rain came and Sicilians have built altars and feasts to honor and thank him for his intercession ever since.
Since 1984, the Perrets have shared this tradition with the entire St. Charles community by inviting everyone to partake in the hundreds of breads, pastries and seafood dishes on the St. Joseph Altar at their home.
Each year, about 300-500 people join them for the celebration.
“We get people from all over,” Clara said.
The tradition of building the altar was passed down to Clara from her three aunts. While the three of them could start baking and cooking on March 1 each year in preparation for the feast, Clara must start in January to have enough food for the entire altar. She stores food that is able to be cooked in advance, such as cookies and candy, in air-tight containers until the big day.
When the day finally arrives, a plethora of breads, cookies, cakes, fried vegetables, seafood, stuffed artichokes and more line the tables across an entire room in the Perrets’ home. They have every kind of food you can think of – except meat because Clara said that traditionally meat was not eaten on this day.
After the feast, which usually lasts about eight hours, the Perrets take the leftovers to nursing homes, friends and family.
Because of the massive amount of food they have to prepare, the Perrets usually have around 20 people helping them cook throughout the month leading up to St. Joseph’s Day.
Besides the food, the feast day is packed with other meaningful traditions from Sicily and the church.
“Everything must be in three,” Clara said. Three is a very important number in most Christian religions because it represents the Holy Trinity. There are three tiers on the feast table and those designated to represent the Saints each year must knock three times to commemorate the times Mary and Joseph were denied a room in Bethlehem.
The Perrets also fire a gun three times each year as part of the celebration.
“In Italy, that let everybody know the altar was open – it was like an invitation to come and eat,” Clara said.
Another tradition is the blessing of the altar by a priest, which will be done this year by Fr. Terry Becnel.
“The priest has to bless (the altar) every year, otherwise it would not have any significance…as far as I’m concerned all the food has to be blessed,” Clara said.
The Perrets’ altar will be set up on March 19 at their home, 211 Mary St. in Norco, from 1-10 p.m. The entire community is invited to join them.
St. Gertrude’s Catholic Church in Des Allemands will also hold a St. Joseph altar on March 19 in the Father Mac Building from 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Viewing will continue until 6:30 p.m.
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