On Sunday, thousands of revelers will gather in Williamsburg for a festival full of food, dancing, and live music. Unlike other Brooklyn events, the Our Lady of Mount Carmel and San Paolino di Nola Feast is based in a tradition that got its start in Italy over 1,000 years ago, with its centerpiece a four-ton 72-foot tower.
As part of the neighborhood’s nearly two-week feast, the tall, ornately decorated structure, known as the “Giglio,” is carried through the streets by over 100 men. The Giglio Feast, which officially kicked off on Wednesday, has been held in Williamsburg every July since 1903, nearly two decades before the better-known Feast of San Gennaro was celebrated in Little Italy.
