Speech #980129626

To each of you that I have not called by name. a special congratulations for an outstanding job. It is fitting for us to recall the achievements of Columbus. His adventure to a new land mirrors similar adventures for millions of Italian immigrants and their ancestors. Each of us that followed Columbus is reenacting that journey. Whether we began our adventure from a small village in Sicily or whether we began in the U.S. as the second. third. or fourth generation of Italian parents. the voyage has been the same: uncertainty at the outset. struggle. perseverance. and success. Todays Festival emphasizes a deep desire to maintain that heritage that we sought to have others respect and honor. Italians. like other immigrants who came to this country in the great migrations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. entered a new world that regarded their language. dress and customs as something alien and inferior. Such an attitude presented understandable difficulties for the newly arrived immigrants. It often led them both to accept wholeheartedly the popular melting pot mystique and to attempt to blend anonymously into the larger society. The immigrant parents actively encouraged their children to embark on yet another journey of emigration. This time not to the shores of America. but into the promised land of its mainstream. In the span of one generation. the children of these immigrants left behind the language and customs of their parents andsadly in some cases their ethnic identity and pride. Despite the melting pot imperative. the ethnic groups were not as readily homogenized as milk. Some traditions and customs have not only endured. but have also prevailed. One of the most important survivors is the celebration of traditional religious feasts and festivals. ItalianAmerican festivals in the United States have roots that stretch deeply into the folklore and traditions of Italian villages. Most of the celebrations honor the Patron Saints of the towns from which the immigrants came. Certain feasts days are extraordinarily popular and widely observed. In New York City. for example. the Feasts of San Gandolfo. the Madonna Del Carmine and San Gennaro are celebrated with great and enthusiastic festivity.