Images of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano. An emotion that does not change.

Contributed by Dr. Antonio Castaldo, Sociologist and Journalist, Brusciano, Italy July 15, 2011

The first image that renders for future generations the miraculous event of June 13, 1875 at Brusciano, remembered as the "Miracle of Saint Anthony of Padova," is the one reproduced in the newsstands of majolica in Vico Tre Santi. It respects the verbal memory and how fixed, then, the cultured style of writing poetry by Don Francesco pastor of the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie. Cecca Zi De Falco unable to comply with her first promise, launches to the wind from her balcony a wafer, while the statue of St. Anthony is in procession. The wonders and the beginnings of communitarian thanks together with the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano: are all faithfully cited.

The advent of photography and film technology intersects with the Feast of the Gigli of Sant'Antonio di Padova in its first recorded documentation of the Bruscianesi migration experience to the "New World."

The first photograph, one of several that merits attention, which we have recently acquired and evaluated from New York are the base of the Giglio di Sant'Antonio di Padova with the inscription: "Long live the 10th year of the Feast of the Bruscianesi. The other photos show the family of Gioacchino Vivolo, author of the Bruscianese Giglio in America who emigrated from Brusciano, at the turn of the twentieth century as confirmed by Phil Bruno, a descendant of that family. The first track I came across was in February of 2003, thanks to the Anthropologist Joseph Sciorra of the Italian American Institute at the University of New York. Then in July 2010, I received an email from Phil Bruno, a descendant of the Vivolo family, from New York. This same commitment continues today in the Giglio Society of East Harlem, New York with Bob Maida. In 2003, I personally observed and documented the continuance of this feast in New York.

From the American side is the invaluable work of Miriam Medina, founder and researcher of social history of American website, www.thehistorybox.com. She has been giving us gratuitously a large amount of her time and space on her website in spreading the message of Brusciano in America, undertaking studies and research on the Italian, American people which includes Bruscianesi origins, as well. To her we owe our immense gratitude.

From our side, the first still image, which we will, present is that of the Feast at Brusciano in 1930. An image fitting the fascist aesthetics rigorously reproduced in the investitures of the obelisks. I have preserved with joy a series of these photos which are a result from the printing and distribution by the Association of "Pro Loco Brusciano," in a fascinating cultural activity about a decade ago. (Pro local is the local services in Brusciano which organizes cultural and sporting events).

With regard to the first moving pictures, it is necessary to travel to South America. The Giglio at Quilmes, a province of Buenos Aires in Argentina, was built and danced by the numerous Bruscianese communities in the early sixties which at the time was recorded on super eight of that year in a family reunion. These captured images and sound, which were recorded on videocassette (VHS) was passed over to a CD and sent to us. Therefore, we express our gratitude to the Bruscianese community at Quilmes and to Elisabeth Di Maio vice-president of the "Asociacion Napoles Viva" in Argentina for this remarkable contribution.

In the professional cinematographic area, we get scenes that take place inside the Feast of the Gigli in Brusciano which are mounted in one of three episodes of "Libera," a work in the debut of Pappi Corsicato in 1993.

On television, the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano is the promoter of a service of Filippo Marmo, with my collaboration, for the program "Gentes," conceived and looked after by Giuseppe Feyles and carried on by journalist Elena Guarnieri, in its fourth edition of the year 2004.

The first multimedia work is in 1999 in the CD-Rom of the "Associazione Giglio della Croce," under the care of Fernando Di Maiolo, containing my contribution: The Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano, with a contribution of mine gives an impression of socio- Anthropology. At the end, of the 90s also was born the first website which has dedicated a large section devoted to the background and images of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano. Thanks to the creativity of Fernando Di Maiolo, the father of the renowned musician, Rocco Di Maiolo, who in the music field has studied the lore of the Gigli and has presented it again with an interesting contamination of International breath.

For the acceptance of historical and cultural consciousness let's remember the "Thirty years of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano 1971-2000." This is a film which was edited by me and shown for the first time by the Communal House of Brusciano in the opening of the Feast of the Gigli of 2011. It was also in collaboration with Raffaele Vitale and "La Tua Immagine." (Anita Capasso, Sunday Brusciano "dances" with Gigli, "Il Mattino," Naples, August 24, 2001; "La Repubblica," Che si fa stasera , Brusciano, Naples August 23, 2001.)

A photographic gallery in black and white of the '50s and '60s found in "History and Faces of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano,' a research co-written by myself and by Antonio Ruggiero of the Association Giglio Ortolano 1875 and published in 2004.

The first professional documentary video is produced for the TV special " Brusciano and the Feast of the Gigli," with Giuseppe Ragosta and the undersigned with the television station "Teleoggi," Channel 9 and "Stream News" in 2001.

In 2003, the launch undeniably takes place, in the national, institutional graphics of the Italian Postal service, of the silhouette of the Giglio. Originating from my idea, the first cancelled stamp collector to promote the "Feast of the Gigli in Brusciano, with published consistency under the care of the Italian Postal Service which occurred in Brusciano on August 31, 2003.

Moving physically outside the region, from Northern to Southern Italy, from Campania in Vento, from national sonority is the event of the "Religious and Cultural exchange with the Dance of the Gigli of Brusciano at Padova" in which we get thousands of pictures that were taken during the course of the event by several reporters that were present at Padova, and from the television journalistic heads. A film which I took care of on behalf of the Press Office of the City of Brusciano in favor of the working group at Padua directed by the President of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano, City councilman, Nicola Di Maio and by the President of the City Council Antonio Di Palma. On You Tube, there are several moments of this electrifying experience picked up by so many Bruscianesi youth attending the event.

I also remember with pleasure the first Direct TV appearance of the Feast of the Gigli in Brusciano, "Primo Kanale," directed by Sebastiano Giardino, last year with a joint effort on my part as Head of the Press Office in the city of Brusciano. The same applies to the original episodes of presentation with the representatives of the Committees and Associations of the Gigli: Croce, Gioventù, Ortolano 1875, Parulano, Passo veloce and Sant’Antonio. Also in this case with the precious assistance of the editorial staff of "Ambasciatore: Antonio Francesco Martignetti, Felice Marotta, Teresa Iannelli and Marilena Castaldo.

Finally, in this listing of chronological events, in support of promoting the 136 edition of the Festivity of the Gigli of Brusciano, is the telecast of July 6, with different reruns, on "Tele Club," Channel 619 of Digital TV. In the program, "Tutto Incluso" conceived and conducted by Roberto Esse I had the pleasure of working together with the Editor of the newspaper "L'Ambasciatore", Antonio Francesco Martignetti in the studio with the assistance of Marilena Castaldo and Annunziata Menna.

So in conclusion, I would like to remember the work of the photographers and the various released testimonies, from Carmine Crispo in the second half of the twentieth century in Brusciano. There are a lot of technological resources available, and several approaches and options that have to do with the theme "Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano." What matters most is the immense emotion that is experienced by those who prepare for it and live it year after year, passing the baton from generation to generation.

Dr. Antonio Castaldo, Brusciano, Italy July 15, 2011

Translated by Miriam Medina, Associate Member of the American Translators Association

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net