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Melanie Jade Frazza

@melaniejade6

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💄 Queer Femme
🌋 Sicilian-American
Italian & Sicilian folk traditions, magic, & culture.
💋 @ketchwehr
☀️ @equilibrio_experiences
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Join us for our next Piazza Party! Giorno dei Morti edition: Sunday, November 1st - Jersey City. RSVP LINK IN BIO. Did you know Sicilians celebrate Day of the Dead? It’s referred to as Giorno dei Morti or Festa dei Morti in Italian, and Jornu ri Morti in Sicilian. Traditionally, and especially in the days of our nonni and bisnonni, families would gather in cemeteries for picnics alongside the graves of their loved ones, sharing stories, playing card games and music, and decorating entire cemeteries with flowers, such as chrysanthemums, bringing life, color and celebration to accompany the spirits of those departed. Ognissanti (All Saints Day) and Giorno dei Morti (Day of the Dead) serve as a means of deep remembrance for our ancestors and all of the forgotten Saints who have created an unbroken chain of life and faith that has led us to this present moment. In the States, a lot of these traditions, rituals and venerations have been lost, and there is a grief that comes along with that loss. With a suggested donation of $25 per adult to help us continue to bring these gatherings to life. Let’s hold each other in death and in life, in grief and in celebration, and let us remember how our ancestors remembered. PIAZZA PARTY is a semi-regular free community event with LIVE(ish) music, with the intention of reclaiming third places for the Italian-American community with musica popolare and dance, and solidifying the Italian diaspora in a social setting like how piazzas are used in Italy. We hope you can come and dance and yap; let’s all get to know each other. #italian #sicily #newjersey #folkmagic #altar by @melaniejade6
57
22 days ago
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Benvenuti! ✨ There are some new folks here and I just wanted to say welcome, hi, how are you, who are you, and tell you a bit about who I am. I’m Melanie! I’m a Sicilian-American (and Polish-American!) queer femme. My beautiful creative amore is @ketchwehr and we have two cute, chaotic bambini together. I grew up immersed in Italian-American culture, spending nearly everyday with my nonni who immigrated from Sicily to the U.S. in the 1960s. I have felt the specialness of Italian heritage from day one, and since my beloved nonna passed in 2020 I have been dedicated to sharing what I learn and love here. I’ve spent the past six years delving into magic and mystery, opening up to and learning about spirituality, folk magic, folk traditions, folk music, art, and more. I firmly believe folk culture is the antidote to emptiness of consumerist capitalism. I’ve lived in Rome, Italy at various points in my life: for university, for a full time job running digital content and global social media for FENDI. I speak Italian (well enough) and some Sicilian (it’s a language, not a dialect). I am close with family in Italy and am so grateful to have those connections. I’m a writer by nature, and a content strategist and brand messaging leader by profession. My passion is finding other folks from the Italian diaspora and Italy that care about social justice, dismantling oppressive hierarchies and structures, and just being a good human and helping others in need. I want to reduce suffering and stop the destruction of our planet. I want to combat stereotypes of Italians and Italian Americans, because we have rich heritages that are so much more than mafia, machismo, and meatballs. We are and always have been artists, craftspeople, farmers and land-tenders, labor activists and organizers, anarchists (complimentary) and radicals, and more. I’m getting more and more comfortable sharing my poetry, essays, and stories. It’s vulnerable! It’s exciting! There’s so much more, of course. But I’m extremely grateful for you all, for the beautiful community we’ve built of people with big hearts and big ideas, and that we are doing so many inspiring things together. by @melaniejade6
23
11 hours ago
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COMING UP SOON: Piazza Party: Festa dei Morti edition. 💀 Jersey City NJ • Nov 1st, 2-6pm 💀 🖤 Learn more about Southern Italian traditions around Ognissanti & Festa dei Morti (All Saint’s Day, Day of the Dead) 🖤 Add your ancestors to the community altar 🖤 Bring a deceased loved one’s favorite snack or dish to share, potluck-style 🖤 Learn how to make Amaro (a traditional Italian digestivo) 🖤 Tambourine decorating & treats for the kids 🖤 Live folk music & dancing And more!!! Register today via the link in my bio! I’m so excited to create our diasporic version of this tradition and to gather together in grief and gratitude. by @melaniejade6
23
a day ago
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Part 2! Contro Colombo, per sempre by @melaniejade6
67
4 days ago
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Amaro is a way of tending to grief. In Sicily, amari is traditionally shared after a meal, a bitter digestivo offered at the table. There’s something about that bitterness that feels especially fitting for the season of the dead. Grief asks us to make room for what is difficult to swallow. To sit with what has changed. To remember that love and loss can live at the same table. For our Ognissanti + Festa dei Morti gathering, we’ll make amari together, as a diasporic practice of tending: to our bodies, our memories, our ancestors, and the grief we carry. 🍂 November 1 at 2 p.m. 🍂 Piazza Party 🍂 Community altar and gathering 🍂 380 Monmouth st. Jersey City NJ @hiddenvillage.x @equilibrio_experiences @melaniejade6 @iecc.casacolombo Come eat, make, remember, and tend to grief together. by @melaniejade6
20
5 days ago
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Contro Colombo per sempre ♥️ by @melaniejade6
104
8 days ago
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Happy Italian Heritage Month! ♥️ Italian heritage is so so so many things. It’s the history of Tarot (il Tarocco), it’s centuries of spirituality blending into rich practices that honor the seasons and earth and complexity of humanity, it’s labor activism and worker’s rights, it’s resisting fascism, it’s famiglia and comunità, it’s demanding a life that balances meaningful work with respite and passion and all the things. Italian heritage is not to be reduced to one person, it’s being contro colombo per sempre. by @melaniejade6
43
13 days ago
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Buona festa di San Michele. 🗡️ One saint that always ✨ slays ✨ (sorry, I had to). I love depictions of San Michele in art history, especially from Italian artists. L to R: Guido Reni, Raffaello Stanzio, Caravaggio. by @melaniejade6
5
16 days ago
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THIS SUNDAY! JCAST IAWA Showcase Please join the Italian American Writers Association at our first event with JCAST @jc_artandstudiotour . We have an amazing lineup of poets coming out to present the diversity of Italian voices in writing today, and an open mic to follow. 📅 October 4 ⏰ 1-3pm 📍Cafe Lafayette @cafelafayettejc 74 Maple St. Jersey City, NJ PERFORMANES BY: Lisa Marie Basile @lisamariebasile Pete Solomita @psolophoto Gia Clark Grillo @curveballgrillo Frank Rubino @frankrubinopoet Barbara Worton @barbaraischatterbox Scott Laudati @scottlaudati Tara Temprano @teachingandpoetrywithtemprano Melanie Frazza @melaniejade6 Micayla Mirabella @micaylamirabella Hosted By: Cyn Grace Sylvie @cyngracesylvie Photographic Art Installation October 1-4 By: Micayla Mirabella
 About Our JCAST Partner:
Cafe Lafayette @cafelafayettejc is a casual cafe serving up delicious drinks and comfort food as well as Korean specialty dishes in the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood of Jersey City. Cafe Lafayette features an extensive menu which caters to a variety of tastes and serves breakfast all day. We also feature popular seasonal items that are sure to satisfy. About JCAST:
The Jersey City Art & Studio Tour (JCAST) returns for its 37th year—continuing its legacy as one of the oldest and most dynamic artist open studio tours in the Northeast.

For nearly four decades, JCAST has transformed Jersey City into a vibrant, citywide arts experience—activating studios, galleries, and public spaces across every ward. It brings together artists, collectors, curators, cultural leaders, and visitors to celebrate creativity while driving tourism, economic growth, and neighborhood revitalization.

JCAST is about connecting thousands of people with localized art and the different neighborhoods and various cultures that define Jersey City.

The dates are set: October 1–4, 2026. #poetry #jcast #italianamericanwriters #jerseycityarts #jerseycity taken in Cafe Lafayette by @melaniejade6
9
18 days ago
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A must-visit, Italian-American hidden gem in Haledon, NJ: the American Labor Museum. @american_labor_museum The museum is located in the home of the Botto family, who immigrated from northern Italy and worked in Paterson, NJ’s massive silk industry. The family home eventually became a nucleus for labor organizers, workers, and supporters of the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike. Men, women, and children gathered to demand the many labor rights and human rights we take for granted today: safe conditions, 8 hour days, breaks, weekends. Women were very active and outspoken during this, speaking and organizing alongside the men. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (the original rebel girl), Maria Roda, Ernestina Cravello, Ninfa Baronio, and more gathered in their own “women’s emancipation groups,” published articles, organized in the larger movements and more. The Botto home reflects the many Italian-American traditions that are familiar to those of us whose families immigrated decades later. A parlor with a mandolin and an accordion. A dining room with plastic fruit and espresso cups. A root cellar with home-canned and preserved goods. Grapevines and vegetables growing in the garden. A bocce court!! The mix of labor activism and history AND Italian culture and history made my heart beyond happy. I definitely recommend a visit to this incredible place! Afterwards, you can drive 5-10 minutes and enjoy the natural splendor of Paterson’s Great Falls and grab a sweet treat or a full meal from the numerous local Palestinian-American cafes and restaurants. Solidarity, forever #italianamerican #italian #sicilianamerican by @melaniejade6
18
18 days ago
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☀️ Everything is a tuvagghia Sicilianu & Italiano con mio nonno, filmed earlier this summer. #italianamerican #sicilianamerican #italian #sicilian by @melaniejade6
38
a month ago
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Sunday scaries? Not during funemployment summer 2026. (The scaries are omnipresent, not limited to just one day and time.) 🙃🫠 by @melaniejade6
10
2 months ago
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