DEBORAH CORRAO / L’Observateur / February 27, 1999

It’s a tradition steeped in symbolism and sacrifice – and love.

For 16 years Clara Perret of Norco, her husband Tony and loyal family and friends have been preparing a St. Joseph’s Altar at the Perret home onMary Street.

The custom dates back to the Middle Ages when there was a severe drought and famine in Sicily. The desperate people asked their patron, St.Joseph, to intervene and promised to prepare a big feast in his honor if the rains came.

Legend has it that their prayers were answered and, in gratitude, huge banquet tables were set up in public and poor people were invited to come and eat as much as they wanted.

The practice has been passed on through the centuries through Roman Catholic families of Italian descent.

Throughout the years altars have been prepared in gratitude for favors granted, to celebrate the end of war, to intercede for a loved one gravely ill.

Clara Perret, who has three children and five grandchildren, initiated her own ritual in 1984 when a niece, born premature, was fighting for her life.

“I promised then that I would have an altar every year as long as I’m physically and mentally able,” Perret says. “There always seems to besomething we’re praying for. Sometimes the reasons are too personal. Sometimes it’s just for the love of St. Joseph.””Sometimes it’s just for the love of Clara,” says Mary Grace Waguespack, longtime friend and helper.

Perret concedes that she couldn’t handle the massive effort alone.

“You can’t put an altar together without family and friends,” she says.

This year, Zilma Brown, one of her friends who helps with the altar, is asking for intercession for her husband James who was the victim of a mugging.

To meet the St. Joseph’s Day deadline on March 19, Perret starts bakingthe goodies that will go on the altar at the beginning of January.

Her first task is to compose a list of the more than 50 items displayed on the altar. She writes her list on a bulletin board she keeps handy on a wallin the kitchen.

Perret works full time as a library assistant at New Sarpy Elementary School. But every evening, every Saturday and Sunday, from the beginningof January through March 19, she and her friends gather to prepare a batch of baked goods.

As St. Joseph’s Day looms closer, items are scratched off and the listwhittled down.

In late February many items have already been prepared, stored in five- gallon plastic buckets in a spare room in Perret’s home. Eventually, theroom will hold about 65 such buckets.

On the first Sunday in Lent it is time to make the “pignolates,” a tasty concoction of fried dough coated with a syrup mixture and molded into cookies much as you would a popcorn ball.

On hand to help out are Mary and Irwin Waguespack, Zilma Brown, Bonnie Zimmer and Perret’s aunt, Sadie Barreca.

The process of preparing enough of the cookies to go on the altar will take all day.

Volunteers prepare, roll and cut dough into 1/2 inch pieces. For the firstfew years, Perret bought the dough already prepared. Then her brother, SalBarreca, who passed away in 1993, decided he could make the dough himself. Since his death, others have taken on the task.Perret deep fries the dough outside on a two-burner propane stove. Shewatches carefully over the tiny pieces until they puff out and reach a deep golden brown color, presiding over her eager helpers with a stainless steel spoon and gentle voice, making sure the equipment and ingredients they will need throughout the process are in place.

When all the dough is fried, Perret takes out a Marble composition book, yellowed with age, where all of her recipes are stored.

She measures out exact amounts of dark Karo syrup, sugar and water in two iron skillets and begins cooking it down until it thickens to just the right consistency.

First, some of the mixture is shaped into six cones, symbolizing the pine cones Jesus may have played with as a small boy. The rest of the doughwill be used for cookies.

One more item to scratch off the list.

Closer to St. Joseph’s Day other friends will bake cakes. Perret’s husbandTony will prepare the 21 gallons of tomato gravy for the Pasta Milanese that will be featured on the feast day. Fig cakes will be provided by 92-year-old Josephine Casente. There will fresh fruits and vegetables, fishand seafood dishes, and bread pudding.

Roy Trepagnier and Irwin Waguespack will roast pounds and pounds of the familiar fava beans or “lucky beans” that visitors to the altar will carry with them throughout the year.

The Perrets expect more than 500 people to attend their altar, which will open on the evening of March 18. In preparation, the Perrets and theirhelpers will erect the three-tiered altar to represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit along two walls in their 20 x 26-foot den.

Aunt Sadie will bring her specialty, “sfinge” – Italian doughnuts she shares with those on hand to help.

The goodies so lovingly prepared throughout the previous 2 1/2 months will be displayed along with flowers, candles, statues and other symbols of their deep religion, including three sandals fashioned from dough and baked, representing the sandals of Joseph, Mary and Jesus.

Visitors can select from dishes displayed buffet style and are given a bag of goodies and “lucky beans” to take with them.

St. Joseph’s Day is a day of sharing with the poor and needy in manynations. When the feast day is over and the Perrets break down their altar,leftovers will be delivered to shut-ins and to three local nursing homes.

Donations taken not needed to defray some of the costs of the altar are given to Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Norco to help needy families in the community.

“We never keep anything for the next year,” Perret says.

However, a shrine to St. Joseph remains in the Perret’s den from year toyear. Here they keep a candle continuously burning.

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