Island Bay's Italian immigrants came from the fishing villages at
Massalubrense in the Gulf of Naples and the island of Stromboli off
Sicily and many of their boats were named after saints -
San Antonio, San Constanzo and San
Liberatore.
The blessing of fishing boats is a tradition
in Italy that goes back centuries.
In southern Italy, where most of Island
Bay's Italian immigrants are from, the blessing would be undertaken
by the local priest at the start of spring. The boats would be
decorated in flags and bunting and would file past to have holy
water sprinkled on them while the priest recited prayers and made
the sign of the cross. The blessing was part of the religious
belief that if the boats received the grace of God, they and the
fishermen would be protected from the sea and the weather and would
also reap the bounty of the sea. The first ceremony in Island Bay
was not a blessing of the then thriving fleet anchored in the bay
but a commemoration service undertaken by parish priest Father
Maloney in 1933 following the loss of one of the launches in a
storm at Baring Head and the crew of three, two of whom were
Italian. In later years the blessing of the fleet has been
undertaken by Archbishop McKeefry, Bishop Snedden and the Apostolic
Delegate for New Zealand and the Islands of the Pacific, Archbishop
Magnoni. They were performed either on the diving platform about 10
metres out or from the beach at Island Bay. Extract taken
from: IslandBayFestival
Website
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extracted using the string. HIGH Muggle Area!