THE FEAST OF SAN GIUSEPPE AND THE “TAVULATA DI VIRGINEDDI”

Father’s Day and San Giuseppe’s Day are celebrated on 19 March. The latter is still very much celebrated in the small town of Lascari, where a certain schedule is observed every year on 18-19 March.

The tradition includes the classic “Vampa” (fire) on 18 March, with the following distribution of the sausage sandwich to all participants. On San Giuseppe’s Day, a banquet is set up with local products (pasta with wild fennel pollen, cassateddi stuffed with chickpeas, cocoa and cinnamon, sfinci di San Giuseppe). The banquet is blessed by the priest and, afterwards, the
food is offered to all the worshippers.

In former times, it was the nobility who prepared the table and distributed the foodstuffs to the poor, in honour of San Giuseppe. Although the table is no longer set by the wealthy, the order of food distribution has remained the same. The first to take their portion of food are the children who have recently received their First Communion.
Precisely because of this custom, San Giuseppe’s table is also known as a ‘”tavulata di virgineddi” (the table of virgins).