The Sound of Little Italy : Feast of San Gennaro September 19th ( The American Dream )

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A third of 5 million Italians arrived in America in the early twentieth century, settling in New York, and keeping alive the traditions of their areas of origin. The impact of the American reality imposed the need for them to learn the English language.
This made it essential for them to adapt their communication skills, which were expressed in the various dialects of the places of origin.
In search of a new identity, the Italians tried their best to overcome the obvious difficulties of learning a new language. Thus was born from the fertile imagination of the people, a new language from a particular and peculiar use of dialect words (the Italian language was unknown given the high rate of illiteracy), and similar sounding words in the Anglo-Saxon idiom.
Although the significance was completely different, an occasional jargon was created by the Italian / American: the Broccolino, Brooklyn neighborhood inhabited by our emigrants in New York.

"Shovelers of the railroad" became "King Herod's saber", ["Shovelers of the railroad" became "Sciabolatori del re Erode"] namely: shovelers railroad ... it was important to make yourself understood!

- From: "The American Dream" by Gianni Daldello

Testi e foto tratti dal libro "The American Dream"
Si ringrazia per la ricerca iconografica l'Archivio Fotografico del Museo Regionale dell'Emigrazione Pietro Conti di Gualdo Tadino

The Feast of San Gennaro is presented annually since 1996 by Figli di San Gennaro, Inc. (Children of San Gennaro), a not-for-profit community organization dedicated to keeping alive the spirit and faith of the early Italian immigrants.
People participate in the annual Salute to the Patron Saint of Naples.
The Feast is not only an annual celebration of faith, but also an 11-day event featuring religious processions and colorful parades, free musical entertainment every day, a wide variety of ethnic food delicacies, charming restaurants and cafes and even a world-famous cannoli-eating competition! The central focus of the celebration takes place every September 19th, the official Saint Day when a celebratory Mass is held in Most Precious Blood Church, followed immediately by a religious procession in which the Statue of San Gennaro is carried from its permanent home in the church through the streets that comprise Little Italy.