Christmas was the happiest of times

The feasts, treats made Wooster Square festive

At the end of November, a quiet observance of the Feast of St. Andrew took place; the day set aside by the church to honor him. Even though there was no festa, there was always a special Mass at St. Michael Church with three priests dressed in the special vestments reserved for such occasions.

A large gathering of Amalfitani would attend to honor the patrono of their home in Italy. Beginning in the 1950s, the Mass was followed by a dinner at San Remo to raise funds for the Cathedral in Amalfi, with musical entertainment by Guissepina Pane singing the songs reminiscent of those heard throughout Campagnia: la canzone Napoletana.

I always gauge the season through our store and the special items that were available. In December, of course the Christmas holiday foods would begin to appear in mid-month, and the store took on the appearance of a traditional Italian holiday market. Our front window would be draped with laurel roping, something that my father always maintained as a reference to the older traditions already in place in that neighborhood.

There were small baskets of imported baked figs, with an almond in the center, and mixed nuts in packages, but since Italians favor hazelnuts or filberts, we would have a sack of imported nocciole ready to be purchased. The custom was to bake them briefly, only enough to enhance the flavor and crisp them up, to be enjoyed at the end of the meal together with chestnuts and finoccio of fennel. There would be persimmons or cachi, and pomegranates, melagrana, both of which are enjoyed in Italy as holiday treats.

Imported Perugina chocolates and torrone, a nougat candy studded with almonds and sometimes purchased in small boxes, were another treat. Each box contained a cube of candy with a thin wafer on the bottom. The pigna, or pinecone, had a special significance because it represented the flight of the Holy Family as they were being pursued by Herod. The large cone was usually placed in a tin pie plate on the stove top and, as it heated, the cone opened up to release an intense aroma of incense and also to reveal the pine nuts, or pignoli, hidden behind each scale. In our home this was a very important symbolic representation of the holiday.

Of course, there were displays of fancy fruit from California and even melons from South America, and by the week before Christmas, the bunches of Andy Boy broccoli from California would appear as well as the baccala, or dried, salted cod to be reconstituted for the Christmas Eve meal.

The Italian Christmas customs which had defined the holiday in the places that had been home were transported almost intact to Wooster Square. Many homes set up a presepio, the miniature depiction of the Nativity scene and where there was a tree, the stable and other figures would be placed under the lower branches. The Neapolitans treasure their presepio, or crib, sometimes creating elaborate street scenes to surround the stable and, in Wooster Square, the large presepio that was erected on the side altar at St. Michael was a reminder of those that were left behind.

Since we lived in such close proximity, we could walk the few blocks to downtown to shop in the department stores with their extravagant decorations; fish for a toy in the fishing pond at Shartenberg’s, be awestruck by the large lighted tree on the Green and marvel at the Santa and reindeer suspended midair on the corner of Church and Chapel streets.

In the weeks leading to Christmas, everyone went about their business, working and managing their daily affairs. It wasn’t until the week before that everyone’s attention turned to the approaching holiday and the two festive meals that would be served and enjoyed. For all of us, the anticipation of celebrating the Vigilia, or Christmas Eve, filled us with the anticipation of an event steeped in tradition and, for some, that spoke to the very essence of our culture and heritage.

Even for the children, the night before Christmas was filled with the expectation of what was to come, because, in addition to the special meal, presents were likely to be exchanged after the midnight Mass. It was a service filled with special rituals, especially the placement of the bambino in the

manger, accompanied by the singing of the Italian carol “Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle” (“You Come Down from the Stars”).

There would not have been a home where the family would not have gathered to a meal of seafood in recognition of the church requirement for abstention from meat on the eve of a major feast. For us, it was hardly a sacrifice, because that meatless meal was, by far, one of the most anticipated of the year. It wasn’t just the special traditional foods such as eel, baccala, broccoli, smelts, shrimp and other winter fish, it was the family gathering itself and the joy that was in place for us all.

These were simple gatherings, usually at the kitchen table, but the essential bond that was created, between

a thousand years of cultural heritage and the gathering here in Wooster Square was, literally, impossible to overestimate; it was something embedded in our definition of family and tradition — almost something sacred.

One of my favorite treats would be the zeppole; fried dough which was shaped into a doughnut and dipped in honey, that was made fragrant with the addition of slivers of tangerine rind. Of course, most of the desserts would have been purchased at one of our five local pastry shops. The choices were Lucibello, Libby, Canestri, Beradesca and Marzullo, all purveyors of the traditional dolce which hearkened back to the familiar Neapolitan pasticceria. The spicy, diamond-shaped, fruit-filled, chocolate-covered mostaccioli were the most traditional and cream pie, a kind of oversized bocconotte with a swirl of Amarena cherry preserve, was on just about every table.

Christmas Day meant visits to all your relatives, where you were likely to be greeted by a tray of cookies on the table surrounded by bottles of sweet cordials to be tasted as a toast to the holiday. Dinner usually was capon preceded by lasagna and a special antipasto.

The holiday was simple, yet so rich in family and tradition — these were the happiest of times.

All-Area girls cross country team,

MVP

ALEXA CICCONE Cheshire, sophomore Stats: Won the SCC championship at East Shore Park (18:59), the first Cheshire runner to win the meet since 1999. Set course records at home and at Mercy. Ciccone was the runner-up in the Class L meet (19:24) and fifth at the State Open (18:55). Placed 29th at the New England Championship.

Honors: All-SCC and coaches all-state selection.

Off the trail: Honor roll student also a member of the D.C.I Club and the Human Interaction Club. Volunteers in her community.

Getty Images The feasts of Christmas were the happiest of times.