Opening night was on Thursday butthere are several opportuniuites to see the famous “lifts” before the ceremony closes on July 15th.
- OPENING NIGHT| July 5th 7pm Mass
- Questua | July 7th 11am
- GIGLIO SUNDAY | July 8th 12pm Mass 1:30 1st lift
- Children’s Giglio Lift | July 10th 6pm
- Giglio Night Lift | July 11th 7pm
- Old Timers Day Giglio Lift | July 15th 2pm
If you’ve never attended, here’s a little background from Greenpointers:
“The Giglio used locally in the yearly celebration is a seven-story tower composed of aluminum, papier-mâché, and plastic painted and decorated with gigli and the image of St. Paulinus. A platform at the base of the tower supports a twelve-piece brass band and singer. The entire assemblage—tower and band—is hoisted and carried by 112 dancing and marching men, the paranza (lifters). A separate boat, complete with fitted mast, sail, and rigging, represents the ship that returned St. Paulinus from captivity. Like the Giglio, it has a band and singer and is also carried and danced through the streets. Members of the Vecchiano Festival Band perform on both the Giglio and the “boat.”
Marching band music accompanies the Giglio for much of the way as it is carried along the procession route, but it is the Giglio song that actually makes the Giglio dance. The Giglio’s route is punctuated by a series of “lifts,”by brawny Italian Americans from the area, which last roughly three minutes and cover approximately thirty feet. Each lift begins with the official feast song, written in Williamsburg and used since 1959, “O Giglio e Paradiso.” The band ends the music to the first stanza with a crescendo, the Capo raises his cane, and the 112 lifters become the single paranza that lifts the Giglio off the ground and then makes the structure dance.”
More information at olmcfeast.com
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