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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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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.

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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

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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

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“𝐕𝐢𝐯𝐚 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐮 𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐚!"

Rosalia Sinibaldi was born around 1130 to a Norman noble family that claimed descent from Charlemagne. The inscription she reportedly carved in her hermit cave on Monte Pellegrino reads: “𝘐, 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢, 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘥, 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘢, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵.” She died there in solitude around 1166.

Palermo celebrates Santa Rosalia twice a year. The 𝘍𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘰, from July 10th to the 15th, is the great civic festival with its triumphal chariot, crowds, and fireworks. September is instead the time of devotion with celebrations concentrated at her Sanctuary, in the cave where Rosalia's relics were found in 1624.

On the night between September 3rd and 4th, pilgrims make 𝘭’𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘢 𝘔𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪 𝘗𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘶 (the climb up Monte Pellegrino) to the Sanctuary, where they collect water dripping through the cave rock for its healing properties.

Santa Rosalia has a special place in the hearts of many Sicilians, who affectionately call her 𝘓𝘢 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘢, the litte saint. Interested to know more of her story and the rituals around her special days?

Pre-orders for 𝘐𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦: 𝘙𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, & 𝘈𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 are live. Link in bio.

#santarosalia #lasantuzza #ufestinu #montepellegrino #palermo #saintrosalia

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One year ago, production on this documentary officially began with an interview in a Brooklyn apartment. Since then, we’ve captured stories of love, loss, renewal, grief, joy, rage, confusion, and more. We’ve laughed along with the funny stories, and we’ve helped dry tears (sometimes a subject’s, sometimes our own). We’ve played on the floor with the children, cuddled and run with the pets, obeyed all of the house rules. We’ve walked ancestral land and been honored to hear the stories of elders, share the wine, and dance to the music. We sat together at the table, because it is long, and there is room for us all.

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Tuesday, September 8, 2026, 6pm
The Phoenix Bar
447 East 13th Street, off Avenue A
Manhattan

Established in 2004, the annual gathering for the Black Madonna of East 13th Street will take place at the Phoenix Bar, the former site of the chapel to the Madonna del Tindari, on Tuesday, September 8th, beginning at 6pm!

The Comitato Pattese alla Vergine SS. del Tindari, a Sicilian immigrant lay voluntary association founded in 1905, sponsored an annual procession and street feast. In 1913, the society opened a storefront chapel and social club at 447 East 13th Street. The organization disbanded in 1987 and the chapel closed. In 1998 the space was converted into the Phoenix, a local gay bar.

Folklorist and cultural historian Joseph Sciorra established this revival fete is not a religious event but instead a spontaneous, free-flowing cultural affair that recognized the past but also created a future-forward community. A new generation adopted and transformed the Madonna Nera into an icon of an italianità alternativa, expressing creativity and diversity in an ongoing reimagining of community.

No reservations required. Just show up!

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Available for Customization. Please Direct message or text me if interested.#nutleynj #mcmmodern #midcenturyfurniture #mcmfurniture #mcmdesign

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I got introduced to musica popolare about 3 years ago. You quickly realize that there aren’t any spaces for this music, for this dance. You could catch a performance here and there but that’s not what this music is about…

It’s heard on the streets, in the mountains, on the farm. It comes from the land. It forms different patterns in different towns expressed through the people. It’s brings them together, unifies consciousness with rhythm. It calms the nerves, it brings a joy. A joy to the hardships of everyday life.

These collective movements shake loose our individuality and bring us into community awareness. Guided by the drum.

And we need more of that. We have forgotten our ways…but we are remembering.

I’m so proud of myself, I’m so proud of the friends I’ve made and the culture we’re creating together and the orgs that are blazing the way for more people to see this light. We are creating the spaces ourselves that do not exist. The spaces we need to remember, to feel, to joy and to grieve.

Thank you @iamsummerminerva for getting us on our feet and in our bodies.
Thank you @melaniejade6 for always thinking of our children. For always having a vision and being one.
Thank you @piace.italamer.club for holding space for the hardest questions and using art as a cultural beacon. We are following your light.
Thank you to the collective talent of all the musicians making this space alive. @kyv_music @phl_radicalitalians @heysirota @nzieme_nyc @s.testaa
Thank you Lydia and @italiansagainstfascism , Ride or die.

Thank you so much for coming out and making this so special. If yall keep showing up, we’ll keep creating the space. More Piazza Parties are on the way.

#dance #nyc #brooklyn #italian #folk witch tarantella

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Magic happens in Community
Magic happens in Dance
Magic happens in Song
Magic happens in Rhythm
Magic happens in Ritual
Magic happens in Remembering
Magic happens in Your Roots

It takes a Village.

#piazzaparty #musicapopolare #italian #pizzica #tarantella

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A huge thank you to @hiddenvillage.x @piace.italamer.club @italiansagainstfascism @melaniejade6 and @iamsummerminerva for the much needed joy of the PIAZZA PARTY!
A patio filled with Tammuriata dancing, hand drumming, Italian folk songs, friends, & people and organizations that are truly doing amazing work in bringing community together for important causes and also fun times!

Ci vediamo presto!

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What a truly beautiful afternoon organized by @hiddenvillage.x for the first Piazza Party! Wonderful to see this community gathering together with dancing, singing, and smiles (sweat too)! So happy to hang with @italiansagainstfascism @iamsummerminerva @melaniejade6 @phl_radicalitalians @heysirota @emiliabellydancer Thanks so much Michael LoBello for putting this fantastic event together and inviting us to take part! Avanti!

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