Reply #2: And it was not just one fisherman who made a living at it, either. From the few

[No Elephants]

remaining widows, I gather many of the men in the neighborhood made a living fishing off the piers in downtown Boston.

There are not many of the widows left, but almost all of them have told me that they never buy fish, having been spoiled because their husband were fishermen and they got used to eat fish that had been caught within minutes of cleaning and cooking.

Many of the fishermen, or their parents, came from Sicily, especially a village called Sciacca.

A priest still blesses the harbor waters every August, and people throw flowers on the waters for some reason, so the fish will be plentiful for the fishers. It hasn't done much good in a long time. But, the fisherman are all gone anyway. Only a very few of their widows remain. The ritual is now done solely out of tradition and sentiment. But I like it.

The 100th anniversary of the Fishermens' Feast in Boston was 2010. In Sicily, it's probably been done for centuries.

Gloucester, on Boston's north shore, also has an annual blessing of the waters, but Gloucester still has a lively fishing industry, as you probably know if you saw the movie The Perfect Storm. Gloucester fishing families tend to be Portuguese American, though.