Volunteer prepare thousands cookies, other treats for the Denham Springs St. Joseph’s Altar

Volunteer cooks and bakers are already preparing for the traditional St. Joseph’s Altar that will open at noon March 18 at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Denham Springs.

Dozens of members of the Friends of St. Joseph Society began gathering at the church’s activities center on Feb. 9 to plan for this year’s altar, an annual tribute to St. Joseph, the patron saint of Sicily, the original homeland of thousands of immigrants who eventually settled in Louisiana.

In subsequent sessions on the following Tuesdays and Thursdays, the volunteers have cooked tens of thousands of Italian cookies that will be just one part of the elaborate altar.

The festival weekend will begin with the St. Joseph Mass at 6 p.m. March 17 with the blessing of the altar to follow after Mass. On March 18, the ritual of the feeding of the saints will be held at 11 a.m. and at noon, the hundreds of guests who are expected every year will be invited into the hall, where they can fill their plates with the special delights that accompany a visitation to the altar.

Rosie Moak, who along with Jeremy Patt, spearheads the St. Joseph’s Altar, said that while the altar will be on display for only one day, the preparations for the altar take weeks and weeks of dedicated effort on the part of the 70 or so volunteers.

On the altar

The elaborate creations on the altar are testimony to many hours of dedicated effort on the part of the volunteers. A St. Joseph’s Altar is created on a tiered altar that is covered with statues, candles, flowers and a variety of food items. Among the featured items on the altar are baked breads that are reminders of the life of St. Joseph. The altar also includes a bounty of fruit, seafood, vegetables, cakes that are reminders of biblical lore, and lots of cookies.

Meat is not a part of the event and no meat is depicted on the altar or served at the meal.

“This is how we keep alive the traditions of our ancestors who brought this wonderful tradition to America,” Moak said. “St. Joseph’s Altars have their roots in Sicily and they started when a great famine had brought misery to the residents of the island. The people prayed to their patron, St. Joseph, for relief, and when their prayers were answered, they began to built altars in thanksgiving for the intercession of St. Joseph.”