Corpus Christi festival in Tarentum brings back sawdust carpets

The Corpus Christi Celebration has been a Tarentum tradition since 1943, and the festival with colorful sawdust carpets returned Sunday after the pandemic caused a brief hiatus over the last two years.

This year, hundreds participated in creating 17 religious artworks made out of dyed sawdust and laid out on the parking lot of Holy Martyrs Church in Tarentum. The tradition can be traced to the Black Forest of Germany, and this is the 78th year that Tarentum has celebrated. It is meant to symbolize a celebration of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Participants included local residents, families and parishioners who worked on sawdust carpets throughout the morning and into the afternoon.

Andrew Smay traveled with his wife and four children to Tarentum from Wheeling, W.Va., to create a carpet. His grandmother was born on 11th Avenue just a few blocks from Holy Martyrs Church and he said his children were the fifth generation in his family to participate in the Corpus Christi Celebration.

The Smay family carpet featured a pelican pecking itself and bleeding in order to feed its chicks. Above that is an image of the Eucharist. Smay said it is an allegory to Christ self-sacrificing to provide for nourishment to parishioners. His family wanted to depict a pelican because their home parish features a pelican in stained glass.

Other carpets included Catholic symbols like goblets, crosses and hymns. Each carpet is 12 feet by 15 feet. Throughout the day, the carpets are wet down with a hose to keep the artwork from drying out and blowing away.

John Gulick of Lower Burrell used to live right across the street from the church, and he said he first participated in the celebration 60 years ago.

“They are still nice to put this festival on again, and people seem to be into it,” said Gulick.

Tom Babinsack of Natrona Heights is the church’s business manager and he said he was surprised by the number of participants. He said the number of carpets was double the organizers’ expectations, and he was pleased to see the festival succeed after local churches like Holy Martyrs consolidate into the Guardian Angels Parish.

“It’s important to remember our heritage,” said Babinsack. “And to pass the torch onto the new parish to keep this tradition going.”

In addition to Catholic prisoners, other locals and art appreciators were attracted to the event.

Chris Martin of New Kensington has come to visit the sawdust carpets on several occasions. She said she is always amazed by the level of detail the participants achieve. She isn’t Catholic but said she appreciates the religious aspect and the artwork of the carpets.

“I hope they keep doing it for years to come,” said Martin.

Tom Due of Tarentum volunteered to help wet down the carpets and help participants with supplies. He said Artcraft Wood Products in Pittsburgh donated the sawdust. Volunteers dyed the sawdust with all the colors of the rainbow earlier in the week.

Due’s children are members of the church and he created a carpet on Sunday. He said carpet making becomes a social event, and that typically grandparents, parents and children make carpets together.

“It’s a multi-generational thing,” said Due. “With the hiatus, we weren’t sure it was going to happen. So it was important enough to be here.”

A service followed the completion of the carpets on Sunday afternoon. Then priests followed a procession over the carpets, while parishioners sang hymns.

After the service, the carpets must be cleared away, as is religious tradition.

Due said that a street sweeper comes sometime late Sunday or early Monday to clean up the sawdust carpets from the parking lot.