Ah September in New York City...the kids
go back to school, Fall arrives, Fashion week, playoff time for Mets and Yankees, Football season starting,
and in the old Little Italy Section of Manhattan along Mulberry Street comes the Feast
of San Gennaro.  A little history here...San Gennaro, or in English, St. Januarius was a bishop in the early 300's in
the city of Naples.  As was the Roman custom, those who believed in other than the Roman Gods and Emporers
openly, they were martyred..Gennaro was beheaded and the story goes...a pious Napoletana woman named
Eutichia sopped up the mess made by his severed head and preserved the blood in two small vials.  These
vials are still in existance and Gennaro through his many miracles he bestowed upon Naples is the patron of
the city.
  The blood liquefies twice a year (and when it doesn't, the
malocchio falls upon Naples in the form of disease and bad luck) to a crowd of faithful devotees known as the
Zie di San Gennaro.  These women pray and convulse in the front of the Cathedral in Naples while the Bishop
holds up the vials.  When they liquefy, there is rejoicing, sausage and peppers, and fireworks.  I know this to
be true because my Grandmother who lived only blocks away from the Cathedral would go to this feast every
May and Sept.19 as a young girl.  As we all know, if Grandma says it's true, it's true.  Mulberry Street was the
settling spot for thousands of Napoletana immigrants and they brought with them their beloved feast which
continues to this day. 



Like the Bronx Zoo, the Staten Island Ferry, the Empire State Bldg, Rockefeller Center, Ground Zero, Times
Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Museums, if you are in NYC in September around the 2d-3d weeks, a trip to
Little Italy for this feast is definitely a must do.  Many bemoan the trendy new edge the area now has, lots of
boutiques, new restaurants, lots of non-Italian things...but during the Feast, the old guard comes out and puts
on a show..yeah, there are the usual NYC street fair array of vendors, Filippino food, Argentinian, Arepas,
Greek, Fried Oreos...but the majority of the street is chock-a-block with zeppole, sausage and peppers,
braciole, stigghiole(a grilled seasoned intestines, very very 1900's), clams on the half shell, clams oreganata,
zuppa di mussels, cannoli, sfogliatelle, bags of dried salted ceci, torrone, peaches in wine, stuffed shells,
eggplant parmigiana, stuffed artichokes, meatballs and macaroni, sausage and peppers, and my favorite
sangwich of the feast, the grilled steak with mozzarella on garlic bread heroes...It's loud, it's crowded, it's
a little stinky, it's a little sentimental...it's just like Naples..everyone having a good time, with the sound of
disco or Italian music from every corner.  The theme of the feast used to be and still is:

A' Fest'e a tutt'n'a Festt'...Napoletana for The Feast of All Feasts....it runs thru Sunday Sept.26, 2010.

  End the evening in a civilized Italian manner,
with zeppole, wine, and espresso....