Feast Locations

Giglio Feasts - USA

Feast Locations

Williamsburg Brooklyn, 1935
As Italian immigrants traveled to the New World, they brought with them few material possessions. What they were able to preserve were many of the traditions and cultural events from their past lives in Italy.

Immigrants from Neapolitan towns such as Nola and Brusciano Italy settled into the NY neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Astoria Queens and East Harlem, Manhattan. Facing a new world of uncertainty and adversity, Italian immigrants did what they could to provide stability into their family lives. They focused on the staples of life that most resembled their world back home. Staples such as Food, Culture, Religion and preserving Traditions would be the foundation from where they could build a new life upon.

Enacting the Dance of the Giglio was a natural progression for the Italian immigrants of these neighborhoods to uphold. The first Giglio feast held in the U.S. took place in 1903 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A year or two later, East Harlem, Manhattan held their first Dance of the Giglio festival.

The Dancing of the Giglio, during the early years were orchestrated by Society’s of Italian immigrants, such as the San Paolo Society of Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Astoria, Queens. The festivals in each of these locations carried on until the early 1940's when a pause took place as many Italian Immigrants from these neighborhoods and across America fought with dignity and honor in the second World War.

In 1951, Nolanee Immigrants in the Ravenswood section of Astoria, Queens were the first to re-start the Dance of the Giglio festival. Williamsburg and East Harlem followed quickly thereafter with their festivals. The difference this time around was that the Society’s of Italians that ran the feasts in the past joined forces with their local churches such as Our Lady of Mt Carmel in both Williamsburg and East Harlem and St Rita’s in Astoria.

The East Harlem feast lasted until the late 1960’s, before the neighborhood could no longer support the time honored tradition as many of the offspring of the local Italian descendants moved out and into more improved economic areas such as the Bronx, Long Island and New Jersey.

Then in 1971 descendants from East Harlem who moved out and into the NY borough of the Bronx, started a Giglio festival to replace the one that their fore-fathers held years prior in East Harlem. This lasted until 1995, when they could no longer obtain permits as well as funding to continue.

During the 1970's, Cliffside Park, NJ held a Dance the Giglio festival that lasted for approximately 6 years, before it too could no longer sustain the tradition.

Astoria, one of the mainstay of the Giglio feast flourished for close to 30 years, until approximately the late 1980's when they fell prey to the greater economic advantages the children of immigrants realize by moving out and into suburban area of NY. In the early 1990's, Astoria once again tried to re-established the Dance of the Giglio tradition. This lasted for just a few years before what appears to be the final time the festival will be held in this neighborhood.

For 2 years, 1993 & 1994, members of the Giglio Boys in Williamsburg, Brooklyn held a Giglio feast on Conselyea Street. Their intense passion and love for the feast was evident in the electric atmosphere that surrounded each and every lift.

Then in 1999, descendants from Williamsburg, East Harlem and Astoria who moved out of their local neighborhood and in to various towns across Long Island, came together and formed the Long Island Giglio Association. A non-profit organization whose mission is to Dance the Giglio in a yearly festival and donate all net profits to various local charities.

Since 1999 the LI Giglio Association has held the Festa del Giglio feast at the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, L.I. N.Y. where the crowds have grown along with the size of the festival and number of days in length. What was a 1 day street fair in 1999, has snow-balled into a 5 day long Italian festival, capped off on the last day with the Dancing of the Giglio.

In 2000, members of the Giglio Boys of Williamsburg, Brooklyn joined forces with members of the Bronx Giglio festival to form the Giglio Society of East Harlem. Together, they reestablished a Giglio Feast at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church on 115th Street in East Harlem. Each year the festival has been gaining great momentum and has reestablished itself.

Today, the Giglio feasts in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, East Harlem, Manhattan and Massapequa, Long Island join their fellow Giglio brothers in Nola, Brusciano and Barra, Italy in Dancing the Giglio each year.