The Cene di San Giuseppe began as a vow: someone who has received a grace from St. Joseph promises him a meal for three poor children in thanks and builds an altar for it at home. On the feast day three children, the Santi, sit at a small table as Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In recent years the town, with local associations and the school, has set up Cene that visitors can see, in churches and at the school.
How an altar is built
A frame of wood, today also of iron, forms a kind of small temple. It is covered with laurel and myrtle and hung with oranges, lemons and hundreds of small breads. In front of it rises a stepped altar with an image of the Holy Family. A lamb made of bread, sprouted wheat and fennel at the foot of the columns complete the altar.
What the breads show
The breads show the sun and the moon, birds such as the eagle, the peacock and the dove, fish, grapes, flowers and the carpenter's tools of St. Joseph. Here Christian symbols are laid over older offerings from farming life.
The meal of the Santi on March 19
On the feast day, around noon in recent programs, the Invito dei Santi begins. Three children, also called virgineddi in Salemi, play Jesus, Mary and Joseph and are served at a small table; the call "Viva Gesù, Giuseppe e Maria" opens the meal. By Salemi tradition it has 101 dishes, all without meat, because it is Lent.
Prayers in dialect
Before the altars people recite the Parti di San Giuseppe, prayers and chants in dialect handed down by word of mouth.
Visiting the altars
During the 2026 festival week the altars could be visited every day, free of charge; venues and times are in each year's program. The town of Salemi organizes the feast together with the Pro Loco, the school and local associations. The Museo del Pane Rituale, Salemi's museum of ritual bread, also displays an altar.
A feast on the region's register
Since 2006 the Sicilian Region has listed Salemi's "Festa dei Pani," the bread feast of San Biagio and San Giuseppe, in its register of intangible heritage. The second bread feast is San Biagio on February 3, with small breads called cavadduzzi and cuddureddi.
Planning your stay
March 19 is a Friday in 2027, and Palm Sunday follows on March 21. In recent years the program for the festival week, with venues and times, came out between March 3 and 9. Salemi lies inland in the province of Trapani; vacation homes are on the coast, for example in Campobello di Mazara, Castellammare del Golfo and Marsala. In the southeast of the island, Scicli honors the same saint with horses dressed in flowers, the Cavalcata.
