Happy St. Joseph’s Day

St. Joseph’s Day is not celebrated by my family. Mom said it used to be a fun day because it was the day for dances. Any penance taken up for Lent was temporarily suspended and everyone would go out to a dance. I don’t know why this tradition died. There might have been more to do on this day but I was only told people would go out dancing and they would forget about any penance taken up for Lent. It's celebrated in New Orleans, Alexandria and other areas that have a lot of Italian descendants. The St. Joseph’s Day Altar is the highlight of the day. However, I don’t think they temporarily give up their penance and I don’t believe they party like my family used to. It surprises me that it died because the old tradition would fit right in with the party attitude of south Louisiana.
St. Joseph’s Day was “moved” this year to March 15 because March 19 fell during Holy Week. See this blog post: Just Off Magazine St. - Joseph’s Day