VINELAND, NJ

SPRING, 2001

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1

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SEARCHING FOR PANTS

(By: Frank De Maio, M.D.)

Every part of Italy has it's

special religious festivals
and traditions. When the
Italian immigrants came to
America, they brought
those traditions with them.
One of those traditions that
really caught my imagination at a young age was the
celebration of St. Joseph's
day on March 19th and
giving out "pants."
Pants were not something
that you wore. You ate
them (now don't let your
imagination run away with
you!). These pants were
cooked, not woven, and
were made of dough, chic
peas, and honey, and were
cooked by deep frying in
oil. The recipe for them is
found later in this news let-

ter.
From what I can determine,
the custom was indigenous
to the region of Abruzzi (I
never saw a Sicilian or Napoletano make them.)
When a person of that region prayed to St. Joseph,
and if their prayers were
answered, the person might
pledge to "repay" the miracle by St. Joseph on the
birthday of the saint as a
way of thanks for the fact
that their prayers were answered. They did this by
being host to their
neighbors and offering
them food on that day
which included a particular
form of dessert called
"pants" (which is the English word, but in Italian is
"Calzoni" and "Cavazun'"
in dialect.)
When we were kids and we
knew that St. Joseph's day
was coming near, we would
all make sure that we had a
pretty good idea of who
was giving out the treats
and where to find them.

Then, on the fateful morning of the exciting day,

there was a great anticipation. Your mother was sure
to remind you before you
left for school to go and get
the "pants." You could
hardly wait until school was
over, to run out of class and
go to the nearest home that
was giving them out. You
would knock on the door,
and someone would answer. If you were older,
they would invite you in for
supper. This included a
variety of meats, plenty of
macaroni, wine, and bread.
No matter how poor the
family might be, on that
day, no one was turned
away. If you were young,
they would not invite you to
eat, but would just ask if
you wanted "pants." You
shook your head yes about
10 times, and the kind person would reach inside and
bring you two or three of
the "pants." They were put
in the bag that you were
sure to be carrying, and

(Continued on page 2)

CRAFTERS AND
ANTIQUE DEALERS WELCOME
TO ATTEND THE
BIG FOUNDERS
DAY FESTIVAL
ON SATURDAY,
MAY 19, FROM
11:00 AM TO 6:00
PM.
CHARGE IS MINIMAL.
IF INTERESTED,
CALL THE VINELAND
DOWNTOWN IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT,
856 794 8653.
LOCATION WILL
BE MAIN AND
LANDIS ON THE
T R A I N I N G
SCHOOL GREEN

Page 2

(Continued from page one)

away you ran to the next house.
Because the "pants" were cooked in
oil, your bag was soon coated with
that oil and became virtually transparent.
You ran from house to house, because it got dark soon after the end
of school, and you had to be home
before it got dark. With each house
the bag became fuller, and sometimes so full that you just had to eat

a couple to make room for more.

After all, how much can an oil
soaked paper bag hold?
You headed for home just before it
got dark and the first words that
greeted you at the door was, "How
many pants did you get." The
members at home would then put
them out on the table to look at
them and marvel and then would
decide how to portion them out.
Everyone tasted some, and saved
the rest for dessert. You can be

sure that by the end of the evening,

they were GONE!
For a real treat, see the recipes on
how to make the delightful little
things. But, remember YOU ARE
ONLY ALLOWED TO EAT
THEM ON ST. JOSEPH'S DAY!

Red Barn Antiques Keeps History Alive

ing along the centre of said Butler Avenue South thirty six and
fourteen hundredths rods; then
(2) South eight degrees West
seventy perches.
Or how about this one: Hence
forth degrees East four chains
and twenty five links to a corner
in said Bridgeton Road.
(By: Frank De Maio, M.D.)
So you think that learning the
metric system is hard because
you have to convert feet and
yards to meters and centimeters? Well, take a look at the
following surveyors units of
measurement from 1865 (the
same year the Civil War ended):
sellsto the said party of the
second part, his heirs and assigns, all that certain piece of
land situated in the Township of
Landis, County of Cumberland
and state of New Jersey
bounded and described as follows to wit: Beginning at the
intersection of the centres of
Butler Avenue and Main or
Horse Bridge Road (as it was
then called), thence (1) extend-

Now for those of you that want

to know (are there really any
that want to know??) a perche is
equal to a rod and a rod is equal
to 5.5 yards or 16.5 feet. A
chain is equal to 66 feet and
contains 100 links. Now if you
want to convert rods to meters,
you set up an equation as followson second thought, lets
forget it!!
What is more interesting is that
Mrs. Mary Smith (of the Old
Barn Antiques on the North
West Boulevard in Newfield)
gave me a bunch of old deeds
going back to 1865. Many of
them were signed by Charles K
Landis. By way of this article I
am publicly thanking Mrs.

Smith for her kindness.

deeds are a real treasure.

The

When Landis purchased the

Vineland Tract from Mr.
Wood, he had no ready cash.
His mother had given him 500
dollars to start the endeavor. He
had to get the land from Mr.
Wood manly on the basis of enthusiasm. The terms from Mr.
Wood were generous--seven
dollars an acre, no interest payments for 3 years, and no
money down.
As Charles K. sold the land, he
would pay off Mr. Wood. I
quote from the autobiography of
Charles K. Landis concerning
his sale of the first parcel of
land to a man from New York:
I drove him down to Millville
and had the deed signed by Mr.
Wood and his wife, who were
both there. I paid Mr. Wood his
portion, and kept the balance.
Under my arrangement with
him I was to pay him a certain
amount per acre for every deed
he signed, until I had paid him
enough to take a deed myself. I

Page 3

shall never forget his look of astonishment as he received this

money.
In the deeds I saw signed by Mr.
Landis, he would turn the deed
over to Mr. Wood as payment.
There was a statement on the
deed that Mr. Landis had personally appeared. The signed statement is as follows: For a valuable consideration, I do hereby
transfer, assign and set over the
within Mortgage, to Richard D.
Wood, his heirs and assigns
Witness my hand and seal this
twenty seventh day of November
of A.D. eighteen hundred and
sixty five. Witness present W. A.
House. This was followed by

the signature of Landis.

As one follows the deeds
throughout the years, one notes
that they were handwritten up until about 1900 whereupon a typewriter was used. Some of the
penmanship was stunning and
some seemed to be written by
doctors.
Also, I noted that
Matilda Landis took over much of
the business in the later years, and
was the chief executor after he
died. When she died, the business was taken over by Charles
K. Landis Jr. and his wife Mary.
They had moved the main office
to Sea Isle City by that time

mented that they have deeds

signed by Mr. Landis, the founder
of Vineland, after the year 1900.
That is unlikely since Charles K
died in 1900. It is far more likely
that the son, Charles K Junior actually signed them!!
Well, anyway, thank you again
Mrs. Smith from the Old Barn!!!

A number of people have com-

Recipe for Pants!

CALZONI ("CAVAZUN" in dialect)
(Recipe donated by Carmella Romeo, from her mother Angelina Bellone)
FILLING INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. of dried chic peas
The skin of one orange, ground up, plus the juice from the same orange
2 teaspoons of cinnamon or to taste
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of honey
DOUGH INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 lb. of flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup of white wine
Warm water
PREPARATION OF THE DOUGH:
Put the flour on a mixing board and make a hole in the center of the flour. Add the ingredients to the center of the flour, and
gradually mix in with the flour. Continue to work the dough until is it firm and elastic. Add flour or water as needed.
PREPARING THE FILLING:
Rinse the dried chic peas in water, then soak in clean water overnight. The next day, cook the peas in water until tender. Then,
grind up the peas and pass through a sieve while still warm. Let cool, then add sugar, honey, cinnamon, orange rind, and orange
juice to the chic peas. Mix well and let stand for 4-5 hours.
PREPARATION OF THE PANTS:
Roll out the dough until thin. Cut the dough into round circles about 5 inches across. Put filling on one half of the circle, then
fold over the dough so that the edges of the dough meet. Seal the edges of the dough with a scalloped tool so that the edges are
pleated.
Heat the oil to temperature suitable for frying. Put in the prepared pants, and cook until golden brown. Remove, and let dry on a
towel (paper). While still warm, sprinkle sugar on them.
Make 500 of these, and then give almost all of them out to all the kids in the neighborhood, but save a couple for yourself!

Page 4

We want to do out dog-gone

best to thank all the people
that contributed money towards our activities during
the last year. The list is as
follows:
Dr. & Mrs. Gerald & Linda Packman
Dr. & Mrs. Kevin G. Barber
Dr. Andrew S. Heller
Dr. Caroline Amadeo
Dr. Donald Huston
Dr. Dr. & Mrs. Michael DiOrio
Dr. Fazlollah Golestaneh
Dr. Frank DeMaio
Dr. Inga Silberberg
Dr. John A. Pirolli
Dr. Joseph Bernardini
Dr. Joseph D Wachspress
Dr. Narasbmhaloo Venugopal
Dr. Ralph Dauito
Dr. Seymour G. & Isabelle
Hyman
Dr. Steven Soloway
Mr. & Mrs. Bill & Eileen Hallissey
Mr. & Mrs. Dante & Dorothy
Giuliani
Mr. & Mrs. Gerald & Gloria Noto
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Santagata
Mr. & Mrs. Louis & Mary Schad
Mr. & Mrs. Mike & Karen Cifa-

We think you
are great
loglio
Mr. & Mrs. Phil & Beth Bergamo
Mr. Antonio Mennone
Mr. Bob Albrecht Sr.
Mr. Carl Biletta
Mr. De Rossi & Son Co.
Mr. Donald Giacomone
Mr. Gaylord Evey
Mr. Jay H. Greenblatt
Mr. Jerome H. Irick
Mr. John Makos
Mr. John Whilhelm
Mr. Joseph Pustizzi, Jr.
Mr. Kevin Kirchner
Mr. Matt Fisher
Mr. Matthew Jordan
Mr. Peter Di Stefano
Mr. Robert Zuest
Mr. Ronald J. Angelo
Mr. William Martini
Mrs. Dolores Petalino
Mrs. Joan Antonelli
Mrs. Joanne Pettisani
Mrs. Linda Schimmel
Mrs. Mary Ribaudo
Mrs. Rosanne Hughes

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN??

TO BE A MEMBER
BENEFACTOR $100
SPONSOR..$50
FAMILY.$35
INDIVIDUAL.$30
STUDENT .$5
MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO THE:
FRIENDS OF HISTORIC VINELAND
The Friends have no connections with the Vineland
Historical Society or any other society!

!!

Mr. & Mrs. Dee Campanella

Ms. Alice Rosenfeld
Ms. Alma Sessa
Ms. B. J. Giercyk
Ms. Beth Kocher
Ms. Catherine Arpino
Ms. Christine Zion
Ms. Cornelia Getsinger
Mr. & Mrs. Cy & Joyce Baltus
Ms. Elloree Channels
Ms. Jeanne Doremus
Ms. Judith Stanger
Ms. June Lang
Ms. Linda Becker
Ms. Linda M. Dechen
Ms. Maria Perez
Ms. Mrs. Debra Favoretto
Ms. Nina Orlando
Ms. Patricia Howe
Ms. Pearl Giordano
Ms. Viola Negherbon
Stanker & Galetto

Name: ______________________________
ADDRESS: _________________________
CITY :__________________ STATE: _____
ZIP:. _______ PHONE: ________________
Mail to: Friends of Historic Vineland
C/O Frank De Maio, M.D.
1047 Almond St.
Vineland, NJ 08360