Saint Joseph’s Day on 19th March 2026 is the focal point of several days of festivity in Castelbuono Sicily. This important religious feast has roots dating back to the 10th century and as the father of Jesus Christ, and husband of Mary mother of Jesus, Joseph is highly ‘ranked’ in the pecking order of the Catholic religion in Sicily and he is often considered the ‘patron saint’ of the island. Giuseppe is still the most popular name given to male children, and as 19th March is also celebrated as Father’s Day in Italy, it’s an ideal time for a family holiday.

Traditionally, you can expect many masses and divine rituals in his honour, and in Castelbuono in a small ‘home-made’ shrine, there’s also an evening prayer meeting sung in an old Sicilian dialect which is rarely used outside of this occasion. Church altars and shrines in family homes are decorated with intricate bread sculptures - figures and symbolic motifs often strung together with coloured ribbons and strewn with flowers. These tiered or ‘laddered ‘tables of St. Joseph’ are further enhanced with devotional objects and special foods to give thanks for his blessings. Carpenter’s tools, crosses, fish and other forms from nature are usually used.

Family meals on the feast day are often elaborate but without meat as it during the abstinence period of Lent. Minestrone soup is popular and a particular dish known as ‘carpenter’s pasta’ or ‘sawdust pasta’ is made with breadcrumbs sauteed in butter to represent the trade of St. Joseph. A sweet pasta laced with honey is also a long-standing tradition. A dessert known as Zeppole - a cream or sweet ricotta cheese-filled pastry - is still a favourite.

In the street, you’ll see local devotees wearing red clothing and carrying small bags of blessed fava beans.