Brooklyn's Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast kicks off

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast in Williamsburg

A procession of drums and horns officially kicked off the "Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast" in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. FOX 5 NY's Kendall Green has the details.

BROOKLYN - A procession of drums and horns officially kicked off the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast – a 12-day tradition in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, marking over a century of celebrating Italian faith and culture.

Local perspective:

And you can’t celebrate Italian tradition without Lucy Spata, the vendor of food vendors, offering a taste of her Italian heritage that traces back to her grandmother, the original Lucy.

"Sausage and peppers, pork braciole, steak, grilled chicken, the works, all Italian specialties," Spata said. "If you don’t try my stuff, you’re missing out."

"They come back to their roots where they grew up, and they also come back to the culture they had when they were growing up with their parents and grandparents," said Jamie Gigantiello, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish. "So, it's a way of connecting to the past to their roots, to their culture and their faith."

For more information about the feast, click here.

What they're saying:

"Immigrants came here and every year, we have new immigrants coming, and it’s a better way of life," Gigantiello said. "They sacrifice a lot, but they work hard, they bring their culture, and they bring their faith with them."

What's next:

A major staple of the feast happens on Sunday, when 120 men march the 4-ton, nearly 80-foot Giglio.