YouTube Videos Dancing the Giglio in Williamsburg (Brooklyn)
Type
Audio/Visual
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Category
Video
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Publisher
IAHF, United States
Duration
2:13 min
Subject
La Festa dei Gigli, festival of the lilies, in Brooklyn
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Series Name
Description
An Old World-style festival in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn draws thousands each summer to watch a towering statue of St. Paulinus of Nola "danced" through the neighborhood's streets. Here, as in Nola in the Italian Province of Campagna, Paulinus is honored in La Festa dei Gigli, or festival of the lilies. Legend has it that after a North African pirate raid on Nola, a number of people were held captive. Paulinus offered to exchange his freedom for that of a captured child and was thus taken to North Africa as a prisoner. One sultan was so moved by this heroic deed that he freed Paulinus and his countrymen whose return home was greeted by lily bearing townsfolk—the lily, "giglio" in Italian, being a symbol of love and freedom.
Number of Copies
1
