The Madonna of 115th Street Revisited

After reading Orsi’s novel, it’s hard to believe that the Italians of East Harlem would ever welcome another group into their feast of Mount Carmel, but they in fact did. However, it is important to note that the Italians were more open to certain groups than they were to others. McAlister mentions that the Italians were coldhearted towards the Puerto Ricans, but willing to accept the Haitians into their ceremonies. Why such hostility towards the Puerto Ricans and not the Haitians? In order to understand this, its important to note the differences between the Puerto Ricans and Haitians. The Puerto Ricans began slowly moving into Italian Harlem and they were there to stay. They were taking over an area which had once solely been Italians. The Puerto Ricans therefore could be seen as a threat to the domus. They were slowly becoming residents of the same area as the Italians and this was impeding on the structure that was for so long in place in Italian Harlem. The Haitians were different. They would come into East Harlem to celebrate the festa and after the festa they  would leave. Therefore the Haitians didn’t seem to possess any threat to the Italian community and were welcome in the celebrations.

An interesting thing to note about the Haitians is that they were in constant movement. They practiced transnational migration which contributed to the concept of the Haitian Diaspora. It seems that to the Haitians the feast of Mount Carmel was not about the particular location on 115^th Street as it was to the Italians, but rather it was solely focused upon the religious ideals. It was centered around Catholicisim and the Vodou ideals. The Italians celebrated the feast in honor of Madonna, but the location on 115^th street was almost equally as important to them.

Another thing that I found very interesting is the dichotomy between Catholicism and Vodou, and how although these two things seem to be on such extreme polar ends, to many Haitians they coincide so well. This unique characteristic of Haitian religion becomes something that they can use to separate themselves from their role that they have been unwillingly placed into upon arrival in the United States. The Haitians are put into the same group as African Americans even though the Haitians do as much as possible to show that they do not belong in this same category. They do so “by maintaining Frenchness, Creoleness, and Catholicism, and by dressing in conservative, French influenced fashions and hair styles”, and all of this enables them to distinguish themselves.