Giglio Society of East Harlem is a non profit Italian-American society located in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, that sponsors an annual feast honoring their patron saint, Saint Anthony.

History

20th century

Southern Italian immigrants predominated East Harlem, or Italian Harlem, especially in the area east of Lexington Avenue between 96th and 116th Streets and east of Madison Avenue between 116th and 125th Streets, with each street featuring people from different regions of Italy. The neighborhood became known as "Italian Harlem." The

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

hub of Manhattan; it was the first part of Manhattan to be referred to as "Little Italy." Many families from the town of

Brusciano Brusciano is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, in Italy, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Situated inland north-east of Naples, 10 miles from center city, the ancient village of rural vocation has developed along the way National ...

, Italy migrated to East Harlem bringing with their tradition of the yearly Dance of the Giglio festival in honor of

Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua ( it, Antonio di Padova) or Anthony of Lisbon ( pt, António/Antônio de Lisboa; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Catholic Church, Catholic priesthood (Cath ...

. The Giglio ("lily" in Italian) is an 80-foot-tall, three-ton statue which is carried and danced through the streets of East Harlem by over 100 members of the society. The first Giglio Feast on 106th street in East Harlem started approximately in 1908. Giocchino Vivolo is credited for being the first Capo Paranza on 106th Street. The Festival on 106th Street grew for many years becoming one of the largest street fairs in America and remained that way until 1955. Then, in 1957, the festival moved a few blocks uptown to 108th Street, where the Dance of the Giglio continued until 1971.

21st century

After a 29-year hiatus, the Dance of the Giglio returned to East Harlem in 2000 as a Cooperative Feast with the Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The feast is now located on Pleasant Avenue between 114th street and 116th street. In 2006, it was decided to hold the Dance of the Giglio Festival separate from the annual Our Lady of Mt Carmel feast. The decision to move the Dancing of the Giglio dates was made in order to relieve the strain on the Giglio community. The East Harlem Giglio feast is held annually on the second weekend of August on Pleasant Avenue, drawing thousands of visitors, former residents and tourists from around the world. The 3-ton Giglio statue is danced on the shoulders of over 100 faithful on the second Sunday of August.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.eastharlemgiglio.org/ Festivals in Manhattan Cultural history of New York City Italian-American culture in New York City Saints days Street fairs August events Cultural festivals in the United States East Harlem

History

20th century

21st century

See also

References

External links