Photos & Videos: Festival Of The Holy Spirit
The 19th Annual Portuguese Festival of the Holy Spirit got underway on on Saturday [July 5] in the St. George’s Town Square with scores of people attending the festivities.
The two night event is filled with entertainment including The Travelers, Caroline Araujo and Friends, Filipino Dancers, Somerset Brigade Band, Vasco Da Gama Dancers, and more.
Also performing is visiting Portuguese singer Sarah Pacheco, who is no stranger to the island and who has won the Ontario People’s Choice Award for Female Artist Of The Year for two consecutive years. Ms Pacheco’s mother Milu Pacheco also took part in the fun, joining her daughter for a few songs.
Portuguese food, donuts, and baked goods will be on sale during the event. The Portuguese Festival of the Holy Spirit will continue today, July 6 from 5.00pm through 11.00pm.
Sarah Pacheco:
#2 Sarah Pacheco:
Sarah & Milu Pacheco:
#2 Sarah & Milu Pacheco:
Milu Pacheco:
Click to enlarge photos:
Read More About
Category: All, Community, Entertainment, Music, News, Photos, Videos
Wow! This has been going in for 19 years. I think this is the first I have heard of it. Looks like fun.
Ride
Ok, I don’t see the connection between the festival name and the pictures. Am I missing something? Maybe I’m thinking about the wrong Holy Spirit.
Story behind the Holy Spirit Festival:
PORTUGAL’S QUEEN ELIZABETH
The original Holy Ghost Feast was held during the reign of Elizabeth (Isabel) of Portugal, who lived from 1271 to 1336. She was known as a peacemaker and as “The Holy Queen” who was devoted to the Holy Spirit.
Legend has it that the king tried to stop her from mingling with the poor and she was once caught hiding something in her cloak. When he demanded that she opened her cloak to show the concealed food, she said a prayer, and threw open her cloak. Instead of bread, red roses tumbled out. It is for this reason that the statue of Queen Saint Isabel is depicted with a mantle of roses.
She built a church dedicated to the name of the Holy Spirit in Lisbon and often demonstrated her devotion to her people and their well-being. There are many stories of the Queen’s piety and service, but the dearest to the Portuguese people of the Azores is the one explaining their devotion to Queen Elizabeth and the Holy Ghost. In the 13th century, the Azores Islands suffered from many violent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The most seriously hit was the Island of Pico. The people of these Azores Islands could not survive the drought, crop failures, and famine that now plagued them. They gathered together in prayer to the Holy Ghost for help. On the morning of Pentecost Sunday, there was a great rising sun, and the people of these islands saw in the sunrise a ship coming into the Port of Fayal. This ship was laden with necessities of life. The food was distributed among the people of the various islands, and they were very grateful that their prayers had been answered. When their Queen heard of this providence, she organized a solemn procession in honor of the Holy Ghost. Accompanied by her maids she carried her Crown through the streets of Lisbon to the cathedral, where she left it on the altar as an offering of thanksgiving for the favors the Holy Ghost had given her people. In addition, she began a tradition of feeding the poor at Pentecost. Each year she chose twelve people to whom she gave a new suit of clothing and personally served them a meal at her table. The people of the Azores vowed that they and their children and their children’s children would commemorate the day by giving thanks to their Queen for the sacrifice she made. Since then, many Portuguese churches have displayed replicas of her eight-sided crown in remembrance of her goodness and God’s grace. Later, in the 16th century, the church canonized this holy queen in recognition of the miracles that were attributed to her pious life.
The CROWN
The Crown or “Coroa”, consists of three individual pieces. The Scepter of the Crown is accented by a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit whose love was so manifested in Queen Saint Isabel’s life. The Crown has a double significance: First, it represents the supreme dominion of the Holy Spirit, and second; The Crown represents the royalty of Queen Saint Isabel. The Plate, serving as a stand for the Crown and the Scepter, represents the people. If we are to be true followers of Jesus Christ, we must serve others. As a plate holds food which is given to the hungry, so are we called to actively serve, like Queen Saint Isabel. Not only to be touched by God’s Holy Spirit, but to see that divine transformation into the visible reality of serving others in their spiritual, physical, and emotional needs.
So the singing and dancing come in where? Where are the needy people being fed and clothed?
Free soup, bread, sweet bread and drink is served to every one that attends.
Don’t judge what you don’t know…
Queen Isabel sounds like a beautiful person. Thank you for sharing her story.