Joseph Sabino Mistick: Celebrating our differences

“Ferragosto” is traditionally celebrated in Italy on Aug. 15, and our own Pittsburgh version of the Italian holiday will be celebrated this weekend in the Strip District. As with many customs that we have taken from the old country, we have made it our own, and how we do it here provides a simple lesson for divisive times.

Emperor Caesar Augustus established “ferragosto” as a day of rest at the end of the harvest, but it eventually became the central date around which Italians now take their summer vacations. For much of August, businesses are practically shut down, and beaches and mountain retreats are packed.

But the 15th is still singled-out and celebrated throughout Italy as both a state and church holiday, when Catholics also celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. In some towns, there are religious processions and fireworks. It is a day of picnic lunches and barbecues with family and friends, much like our Labor Day.

Augustus was clearly onto something when he created “ferragosto” because it has been successfully exported. In some American cities, the celebration is built around Little Italy Days, drawing up to 100,000 visitors. The Strip District celebration will be tiny, but the way we do it here is what matters most.

There will be a Mass celebrated in Italian at St. Stanislaus Kostka Polish church by Father Nick Vaskov, a priest of Ukrainian-German- Polish descent. Later, just down the block, Ray Mikesell, the half-Irish half-Italian owner of Cafe Raymond will serve a family-style Italian dinner to a gathering of Pittsburghers of every ethnic background.

This is pure Pittsburgh. When it comes to our cultural traditions, we celebrate our differences. If you grew up around here, whatever your own roots, you looked forward to the summer festivals that featured your neighbors’ roots. That makes a community.

You knew which church ladies made the best pierogi on Fridays. You could tell from the last three letters of your friends’ last names which European country their family came from. And you knew that one day in March you would be Irish, too, no matter who you were.

As Father Nick says, “The joy and excitement that people take when sharing their traditions tells us everything about them. And it shows us how we can love them even more.”

Dr. Joe Lagana — retired educator, founder of the Homeless Children’s Education Fund and a first-generation Italian American — says that we must be careful to not misinterpret the common description of America as a “melting pot.”

“We are not meant to be a melting pot that makes us all the same, that makes us bland. America is like an antipasti table, a common table with many different dishes and flavors and traditions, each one distinct,” he says. “That’s our strength.”

As President Jimmy Carter described it, “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”

We know that in Pittsburgh. We may not always get it right, but we keep at it. And we know that because of our differences, we must keep talking to each other, in government and politics, too. Only that sense of shared community will preserve us.