All week the parishoners at St. Anthony of Padua have been preparing for our two big days of the year outside of christmas/easter: June 13th and June 16th. These two dates mark our annual feast of Saint Anthony upon which bread is giving out in the spirit of Anthony who served the poor with the Franciscan brothers back in the 14th century (don't quote me on that**). The entire week leading up to those days involves a 3 day tridium wherein 3 nights of masses and special prayers are offered along with a blessing with a relic of st anthony for his intercession.. the 16th being Fathers day we end the week of numerous masses and exhaustive singing on my end with the big feast day- mass, procession, stadium night.
Last night my church celebrated our annual St. Anthony of Padua feast day and tradition called for a mass packed with people the parishoners refer to as "gli antonini"- because they only come to church the week of the feast- and a procession of cross, priests, bishop and religious groups, city, country and national flags. Tradition also calls for ridiculous heat and overcast and we were certainly not disappointed! *hehe*
The feast concludes at our city's football stadium for 5 hours of italian music, and vendors of italian food and bric-a-brac, jerseys, hats etc. At the end of the night they call out the raffle for which tickets had been sold throughout the evening and then an incredible fireworks display tops it all off.
My family and I are there every year and enjoy the cultural, religious and social aspects of the day. I took pictures of the fireworks and some of them turned out simply unbelievable!
My cell phone camera has a setting for fireworks and the clarity of my shots is amazing.. not to mention the crazy (almost) artistic looking shots I got.. and all I had to do was keep pushing the button *teehee* Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment