Community Corner
St. Sebastian Festival Kicks Off Friday in Middletown
There is nothing quite like the site of hundreds of the devoted, en masse, in a religious fervor, converging on this stately church.
By Cassandra Day.
The 92nd annual St. Sebastian Festival begins Friday evening at the stately Roman Catholic Church in Washington Street in Middletown.
The family friendly weekend long event, which culminates in the dramatic running of the faithful, or I Nuri, is three days of authentic Sicilian-Italian food, music, competition, raffles, and of course, carnival rides.
Friday's events run from 5-10 p.m., Saturday, 12 to 11 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 10 p.m.
On Sunday, 200 parishioners — men, women and children — each depart from the family graves in St. Sebastian’s Cemetery in Rockfall and the Italian Society on Court Street clad in white with red sashes, carrying white and red carnations and chanting loudly, “Primu Diu e Sammastianu!” (first God, then St. Sebastian).
It’s quite an emotional pageant.
The I Nuri, Sal Nesci, vice chair of this year’s feast committee, says, "literally storm the church … it’s a culmination of a year’s worth of devotion to your church as Italian-Americans; keeping sacred the tradition of St. Sebastian.”
There is nothing quite like the site of hundreds of the devoted, en masse, in a religious fervor, converging on this stately church.
The entire feast schedule by day is in the attached PDF.
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