Biloxi, Mississippi would not be what it is today without the seafood industry, the largest of which is the shrimp industry. And few time-honored traditions are as important to the industry as the Blessing of the Fleet which typically happens in late May or early June. Biloxi Shrimp Co. is proud to share more about this tradition with the rest of the country.
With thousands of shrimp and oyster harvesters in Biloxi being immigrants from Croatian, Yugoslavian, Cajun and Vietnamese backgrounds, the ceremony came about as a natural extension of these groups' predominantly Catholic faith. It signifies the beginning of the fishing season for shrimpers and the titular blessing is given by a local priest to usher in a safe and prosperous season for each boat.
While the ceremony has roots traceable all the way back to ancient Europe, Biloxi’s first Blessing of the Fleet occurred in 1929. On the day of the event, an altar was built on the shore of Biloxi's Bay, where a local parish priest conducted Sunday Mass. The shrimpers decorated all of their boats and tied them together, with the priest walking from deck to deck and blessing them.
Today, the ceremony is much larger and more streamlined, with the festivities beginning on Saturday evening of the first weekend in May with a Blessing Mass at St. Michael’s Church. The event has also grown to encompass other events, including the Shrimp Festival, which takes place the night before the fleet blessing and features a feast consisting of various shrimp dishes, dancing and, most importantly, the crowning of a Shrimp King and Queen who reign over the ceremonies. The Shrimp King is chosen beforehand, an older man with many years of experience in the seafood
industry, while the Shrimp Queen is typically chosen from a high school-aged pageant and essay contest winner who also have ties to the seafood industry, with the winner receiving a scholarship for college from a local bank.
The following Sunday afternoon, the event begins with the Ceremonial Dropping of the Wreath, where a wreath is dropped into the water in remembrance of those fishermen who have passed away the year prior, honoring both the at times dangerous profession and the brave individuals who make it their life’s work.
The shrimp boats then form a procession out of the Mississippi Sound as they ride past an anchored "Blessing Boat" where the priest stands and sprinkles holy water and blesses the passing boats. Some awards are even distributed for the boats, including “Best Decorated” and “Best Participation.”The primary officiator of Biloxi’s Blessing of the Fleet for many years has been St. Michael’s Catholic Church, a point of pride for Biloxians as not only a major hub for Catholics in the community, but also as one of the most gorgeous buildings along the water with its distinctive clam shell design. Even in the stunning stained-glass windows, Jesus Christ’s twelve Apostles are depicted as fishermen. This institution and the associated Blessing of the Fleet serve as a testament to the strong ties of faith that have bound the fishing community of Biloxi together for generations.
To this day, the Blessing of the Fleet remains a staple of the Biloxi community, with individuals coming from both down the street and across the country to wish the local shrimpers a bountiful year’s harvest and honor those who came before them. The whole event is just another reminder of the importance of community to the shrimpers of Biloxi, and how through either the sunniest of days or the roughest of storms, it’s a community built upon generations of cooperation and love of the thing that brings them all together: the mouthwatering bounty of Gulf seafood.
Thanks to the Biloxi Blessing of the Fleet Facebook page for the photographs! And thans to those who maintain that page as a great chronicle of the history of the Blessing in Biloxi.
To learn more about our restaurant-quality, wild-caught American Gulf shrimp, order Biloxi Shrimp Co. today.