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https://www.gothambuzz.nyc/article/438/easter-passover-celebrations-in-nyc-boros

Easter & Passover Celebrations in NYC & Boros

Next Sunday is Easter for Western Christians and the Following Week it's Easter for Orthodox Christians

April 3, 2023 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Things To Do Events / Gotham Buzz NYC / 438

Very Brief Introduction to Christian Easter Traditions

On Friday, April 7th, Christians observe Good Friday, which is when the Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross. On Sunday, April 9th, Christians celebrate the Biblical account of Jesus rising from the dead.

Emperor Constantine became the Roman Emperor in 306. In 324 Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Empire. In 1054, the Great Schism occurred, wherein Christianity split into two different sects - Roman Catholic Christians [primarily in Western Europe] and Orthodox Christians [primarily in Eastern Europe]. The traditions have much in common, but one of the differences is in how they calculate the time of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The Western European Christians [Protestants and Catholics] use the Gregorian Calendar which was created in the 16th century and made the official calendar by Pope Gregory, while the Orthodox Christians use the Julian Calendar which was made law in the Roman Empire in 45 B.C. by Julius Caesar.

Thus there are years where the Western European and Eastern Orthodox Easter events fall at the same time, and there years where they do not. This year [2023] the celebrations of the two traditions are separated by a week, with the Western European Christians celebrating next weekend and the Orthodox Christians celebrating a week later.

• CLICK here to view our report on NYC Easter events, Easter parades, Easter egg hunts, Easter brunches & Greek Orthodox Holy Friday processsions in NYC, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx & Staten Island.

911 Commemoration Events & Remembrances in NYC & Boros

911 Commemorations this Weekend and Monday

Updated September 12, 2023 _ September 10, 2023 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Things To Do Events / Gotham Buzz NYC.

This weekend, there are a number of events around the five boroughs commemorating the losses of 911. The following are a few of those events.

The collection of photos at right shows an cultural performance at Lincoln Center honoring the victims of 911. The performance returns Monday at 8.05 am.

911 Remembrances / Commemorations NYC

Ongoing _ Daffodil Project in NYC Parks. For details see - https://www.nycgovparks.org/highlights/sept-11-memorials

• CLICK here to view our report on 911 Memorial and Commemoration events in all 5 boroughs of NYC.

Oktoberfest Parties & Celebrations in NYC including in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx & Staten Island

Oktoberfest Begins Mid September in NYC and run thru October

UPDATED October 7, 2023 from 9.19.23 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Things To Do Events / Gotham Buzz NYC.

The official / unofficial kick off to the month and a half of Oktoberfest events in NYC begins in Manhattan with the Steuben Parade. This report identifies a number of Oktoberfest events around NYC beginning mid September and running through the end of October.

The photo at right shows one of the floats in the Steuben Parade celebrating the consumption of bier, which in tandem with consumption of bratwurst, is an integral part of Oktoberest. One thing the photo doesn't show is the music, that also goes hand in hand with Oktoberfest.

A Brief History of Oktoberfest in NYC

Coming with time. We've posted a number of Oktoberfests in this report, but a few more are coming. Also watch the front page, as this year [only] they are likely to be posted there first.

• CLICK here to view the rest of our report on Oktoberfest in NYC, including the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

Italian Festival at Mount Loretto

The Italian Festival at Mount Loretto included Food, Shopping, Live Entertainment & Games

October 21, 2019 / Staten Island Neighborhoods / Staten Island Things To Do / Staten Buzz NYC.

Just over a week ago, I headed to the southern Staten Island neighborhood of Charleston to attend the Italian Festival at Mount Loretto. The event ran all weekend in a large sprawling field in front of the cathedral. There was a large stage, live entertainment, a number of food vendors, many serving hot food out of food trucks, somewhere between a half doze and dozen different shopping boutiques offering clothing, cutlery, skin products, jewelry and more.

Memorial Day With Chief Joseph

A Conversation in First Calvary Cemetery in Queens

May 30, 2022 / Woodside & Maspeth Neighborhoods / Queens Culture / Queens Fiction / Queens Buzz.

On Memorial Day, I decided to make a trip to the First Calvary Cemetery to visit the graves of those who gave their lives defending this nation because the founding charters promise all [wo]men the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They fought for a noble cause I thought as I made my way, on a beautiful day, to the Calvary cemetery in Queens.

The First Calvary cemetery opened in the late 1840’s [circa 1847 – 1848] and was located only a short ferry ride away from Manhattan, up Newtown Creek. A couple more cemeteries were opened as the 19th century wore on, as most of Queens was still rural farmlands and woodlands. Many of the burials of the first century of operation were of Catholic Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants - many of which were children who died because of poor living conditions and medical care. Many soldiers had been buried here as well, many of whom were from the Civil War era.

As I was viewing a collection of the tombstones, reflecting on the lives sacrificed in the war over slavery, as well as the more recent wars that pulled nearly the entire planet into battle, a figure in the distance caught my attention. They appeared to be making their way in my direction, in this lonely empty section of the cemetery. I pulled out of my musings, and began to focus on this emerging presence as they made their way up the hill.

As they came closer, I could see that it was an old man, of medium height, with long black and grey hair and a weathered, leathery, tan skin. He was wearing an old brown work shirt and khaki trousers and beaten leather shoes. No, they were mocassins.

I'm not sure why I thought of this, but his countenance resembled that of a legendary American Indian: Chief Joseph. Chief Joseph was a tribal leader of the Nez Perce tribe in the Wallowa Valley in northeast Oregon. Chief Joseph was born in 1840, only years before this cemetery was founded. He had actually visited New York City in 1897, to march alongside Buffalo Bill in a Wild West Parade.

The man slowly raised his right arm, palm open and fingers standing straight up like the Boy Scout salute, and in a deep full voice he said,

“How.”

I stood a bit at attention, as I returned the greeting.

“Hi. How are you today?”

He spoke again, this time in a language I did not understand.

“Mumba goycha tay.”

I looked at him and shook my head back and forth indicating that I did not understand what he’d just said.

Click here to read the rest of our Memorial Day fiction in Calvary Cemetery in Queens.

STAY _ TRANSFER SCTNL _ San Gennaro - MB 389 TXT

Add info about food in 2024 - this was done - needs Sz boost to register like 7/4

San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy Manhattan NYC

Manhattan's Signature Italian Festival Celebrates Little Italy in NYC

September 13, 2023 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Things To Do Events / Gotham Buzz NYC.

Fall is just around the corner, which means the San Gennaro Festival is about to begin in Little Italy in Manhattan. See the front page or the parades & festivals page or click into the story for details of the San Gennaro Festival of 2023.

A Very Brief History of Little Italy Manhattan

Little Italy is just north of Canal street, across from Chinatown, which lies to its south. SoHo lies to its west, across Lafayette Street. While the Bowery is just east of it along Mott and Bowery Streets, and Nolita [North of Little Italy] lies to the north of it, across Broome Street. This is something of a downsized area from the original Little Italy of a century ago.

Little Italy was an important destination for Italians arriving in New York City in the late 1800's and early 20th century. It was generally a poor, working class neighborhood at that time, filled with laborers, and shopkeepers who traded food, wine and clothing. And the community was fairly self-sufficient with its own doctors, lawyers and bankers accoding to a Wikipedia account of an NYT story in 1896.

Little Italy's size and population peaked in the early 20th century, at about 10,000, as Italians left for greener pastures in other parts of the city, including East Harlem, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. Nonetheless, Little Italy remains somewhat intact, as a very popular tourist destination, the peak of which is celebrated in tandem with the San Gennaro Festival.

• CLICK here to read the rest of our report about the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy Manhattan NYC.

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The West Indian American Day Parade(s) in Brooklyn NYC

A Deeper Dive into the Cultural Origins of the Carnival & Some Particulars About the Celebrations in Brooklyn

September 6, 2023 / NYC Neighborhoods / Brooklyn Parades & Festivals / Brooklyn BLVD NYC.

On a sultry Labor Day Monday morning, I set out for the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Crown Heights. The former, covers some of the area in Brooklyn known as Little Caribbean and it was to be the ending point for the Jouvert parade, which serves as the warm up for the larger West Indian American Day Parade.

Be advised that I was not aware of this distinction - two parades by the same group on the same day - until I had arrived and started making inquiries about when and where the actions was.

The Jouvert puportedly started at 11 am inside Prospect Park either at the entrance to the Kids Zoo [still not certain about this, but I'm getting closer to being precise] on Flatbush Avenue or based on a map I saw on the NYPD website, the Jouvert started at Grand Army Plaza, at the north end of Prospect Park. I'll be following up on this, and make the changes here when I get them.

The photo above right was taken at the West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn on Labor Day. Many different island cultures celebrate the carnival in unison. The flag in the lower right corner of the photo is Jamaican.

The Jouvert then marched east along Empire Boulevard before turning south on Nostrand Avenue and terminating at Winthrop. I arrived a bit before noon, at Empire Blvd and Nostrand, where the Jouvert Parade had already passed. The Jouvert Parade involves participants adorning themselves with paint and powder, sometimes sharing it with others in a style that reminded me of the Indian Holi celebration.

Speaking of Indians, the West Indies got their name after Columbus discovered them for the Spanish throne. They were called the West Indies, in order to differentiate them from the East Indies, with which the Portuguese had opened up trading routes in the 15th century just prior to Columbus's discovery. The East Indies comprises the islands that lie south of India, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea and north and west of Australia.

CLICK here to read the rest of our report about the West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn over the Labor Day Weekend.