Little Italy’s Feast is the celebration heard all around Northeast Ohio. The iconic, weekend-long event is known best for its spectacle of Italian cuisine, turning Mayfield Road into a vendor market of pasta, pizza, cannolis and Italian treats in town. Games, casinos and music keep the entertainment alive, but its reason for the season makes the festivities complete: The Feast of the Assumption of Mary.

In Catholic tradition, The Feast of the Assumption, recognized yearly on Aug. 15, honors the sacred death of Jesus’ mother, Mary, when she was “assumed” into Heaven, both body and soul. An act beyond her own power, she was taken up by God and preserved holistically in a saint-like glory.