We are all wearing red today.  It is a custom that we grew up with coming from a very Italian upstate NY town.  We are also eating St. Joseph’s Day Cakes (cream puffs with ricotta filling -sfinge). Tonight we’ll probably eat spaghetti w/ olive oil, garlic, and toasted bread crumbs which are supposed to remind us of wood shavings since St. Joseph was a carpenter.  I love these traditions!!!

Just on a related note, the Daughters of St. Paul Choir is giving away a free MP3 download of the song “Te Joseph” for a limited time. Perfect for his feast day, wouldn’t you say?

Check it out here: http://www.mycatholicvoice.com/media/kWH7MQ

I’ve not heard of the red tradition, but I did grow up near New Orleans, where every parish and every Catholic school hosted a beautiful St. Joseph’s altar. A three-tiered (for the Trinity) extravaganza of pasta, pastries, and breads shaped like carpenter’s tools. We always got a goody bag to take home with a holy card of St. Joseph, a sweet, and a fava bean. I’m now in Maryland, where that tradition is not carried on (at least that I’ve seen), but it is a wonderful way of celebrating this great saint.

At my Catholic grade school (western suburb of Chicago) we could wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and red on St. Joseph’s Day, but I never knew why. My town didn’t (as far as I know) have a large Italian population, so I’m not sure why we did this and I don’t know if they still do it… it was about 20 years ago, after all!

Huh.  Who knew?
My hometown Church and Catholic grade school were names after St. Joseph, but our school colors were green and gold.  I always remember seeing holy cards and pictures of St. Joseph in green and browns, sometimes with a flowering staff.  So this is news to me.

We just attended a St. Joseph altar last weekend. It was beautiful. I didn’t know about the red, but we had the 3 tiered altar, pasta, fava beans, and mass. It was great. My husband got a little taste of his Sicilian roots.-from Texas

I am Polish and was taught that St. Joseph was the Patron saint of the Polish people.  I have always worn red on his feast day.  My children were taught to wear red in his honor.  I grew up in a Polish community in the Midwest and now live in the East and still follow this tradition.

In Italy, St Joseph’s Day is also “Father’s Day”, since this great saint is the patron saint of husbands and fathers. I grew up in Rhode Island, where a large population from my father’s hometown in Italy all immigrated there, more or less around the same time.  Growing up, I remember many of the Italian folks would sport something red in honor of St. Joseph, I never really knew the history as to why, but it is a tradition that I still follow and practice with my own children as well…. and eating zeppolas is a big tradition too!

We have always worn red on St. Joseph’s Day because he is a patron saint of Poland and the Polish colors are red and white. We also eat only Polish dishes on St. Joseph’s Day.