On September 25 and 26, the city of Florianópolis, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, hosted the third and final part of the First Global Forum of the Holy Spirit. This event is part of the Holy Spirit Cycle festival, which takes place annually in that southern Brazilian city between May and September.

After Ponta Delgada and Fall River hosted the first and second parts of the forum in July and August, respectively, this initiative promoted by the Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities, through the Regional Directorate for Communities, brought together a group of experts on the theme of the cult of the Holy Spirit, who shared their knowledge about its organization and celebrations in Brazil, Canada, the United States, and the Azores.

According to José Andrade, regional director of Communities of the Government of the Azores, “the forum sessions were intended to reinforce and enhance the religious, cultural, social, and economic dimensions, recognizing and highlighting the differences and similarities of the multiple transatlantic manifestations of what is considered the common identity mark of all Azoreans.”

The event also included a training session for Azorean folklore groups from southern Brazil, with trainers from the Azores (Luísa Bairos and Leandro Ávila).

The delegation (Azores, Canada, USA, and Brazil) was composed of Paulo Estêvão, regional secretary for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities of the Government of the Azores, José Andrade, Regional Director of Communities, Canon Helder Fonseca Mendes, from the Historical Institute of Terceira Island/Episcopal Seminary of Angra, José de Mello, Head of the Cultural Heritage Division of the Municipality of Ponta Delgada, Ilda Januário, researcher at the University of Toronto, Canada, Francisco Resendes, director of the Portuguese Times newspaper, New England, USA, Miguel Ávila, director of the Tribuna Portuguesa newspaper, California, USA, Leandro Ávila, folklore trainer (Azores), Luísa Bairos, folklore trainer (Azores), Raquel Rodrigues, technician at the Regional Directorate for Communities, Viviane Peixoto Hunter, president of the Casa dos Açores in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The event also featured the participation of prominent figures from various cultural institutions in the state of Santa Catarina, namely: Maria Teresinha Debatin, president of the Catarinense Culture Foundation; Lélia Nunes, director of Cultural Heritage at the Catarinense Culture Foundation; Roseli Pereira, executive coordinator of the Franklin Cascaes Cultural Foundation of Florianópolis; Sérgio Luiz Ferreira, president of the Casa dos Açores de Santa Catarina; and Marcos Pinheiro, advisor to the Azorean Diaspora for the state of Santa Catarina.

The first session of the Global Forum of Espírito Santo began on Thursday at 9:30 a.m., with the regional director of Communities, José Andrade, welcoming those present and outlining the event’s purpose, which took place over two days at Casa José Boiteux, in the center of the city of Florianópolis. It should be noted that José Boiteux (1865-1934) was a journalist, historian, lawyer, and politician, and is considered the patron of higher education in Santa Catarina. The building, located on Avenida Hercílio Luz, consists of 26 rooms and was built in 1922, restored in 2010. It is the current headquarters of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Santa Catarina and the Catarinense Academy of Letters.

In addition to José Andrade, the table of honor on the first day of the session included Paulo Estêvão, regional secretary for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities of the Government of the Azores, Francisco do Vale Pereira, director of the Center for Azorean Studies at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Sérgio Luiz Ferreira, president of the Casa dos Açores de Santa Catarina, Edison dÁvila, Vice President of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Santa Catarina, Lélia Pereira Nunes, Director of Cultural Heritage of the Santa Catarina Culture Foundation, Maria Teresinha Debatin, President of the Santa Catarina Culture Foundation, and Roberto Katumi Oda, Secretary of Culture, Sports, and Leisure of the City of Florianópolis.

The ceremony to present plaques of institutional recognition from the Government of the Azores took place. Among the various distinctions, it is worth mentioning the award of a certificate of honor by the Catarinense Culture Foundation to José Andrade, regional director of Communities, for his leading role in promoting closer ties between the Azores and the state of Santa Catarina, a distinction that moved Andrade.

Shortly thereafter, the respective conferences on the Holy Spirit began. Roseli Pereira spoke about the Great Feast of the Divine Cycle of Santa Catarina, followed by José de Mello, head of the Division of Culture, Tourism, and Entertainment of the City Council of Ponta Delgada, who spoke about the Great Feasts of the Holy Spirit of Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, and Francisco Resendes, director of the Portuguese Times, New Bedford, MA, spoke about the Great Feasts of the Divine Holy Spirit of New England. A short debate followed.

On Friday, the forum began at 9:30 a.m. with speaker Canon Helder Fonseca Mendes, from the Historical Institute of Terceira Island/Episcopal Seminary of Angra, who spoke about Holy Spirit festivals in Portugal.

Lélia Nunes, contributor to the Portuguese Times and other newspapers of the diaspora and the Azores, and director of Cultural Heritage at the Catarinense Culture Foundation, spoke about the Holy Spirit festivals in Brazil.

Miguel Ávila, director of the bimonthly Tribuna Portuguesa, published in California, spoke about the Holy Spirit festivals in California, and Ilda Januário, a researcher at the University of Toronto, Canada, gave those present an overview of the history of the Holy Spirit festivals in Canada.

Thursday, September 25, was also filled with the closing session of the Ciclo do Divino de Santa Catarina at the Álvaro de Carvalho Theater, where we witnessed a great manifestation of Azorean culture and faith in the cult of the Divine Holy Spirit, followed by a procession to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Florianópolis, where the closing mass of the Cycle of the Divine of Santa Catarina was celebrated, presided over by the Archbishop of Florianópolis, D. Wilson Jonck, with Canon Helder Fonseca Mendes, of the Diocese of Angra, as one of the celebrants.

Signing of cultural cooperation protocols between the Azores and Santa Catarina

Immediately after the speakers’ presentations on the tradition and worship of the Holy Spirit, a ceremony was held to sign cultural cooperation protocols between the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, through the Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities, the Government of the State of Santa Catarina, with Maria Teresinha Debastin, president of the Catarinense Culture Foundation, and the Florianópolis City Hall (Franklin Cascaes Cultural Foundation of Florianópolis), with the mayor of Florianópolis, Topázio Silveira Neto, a descendant of Azoreans from the island of São Jorge, who spoke to the Portuguese Times about his Azorean roots and the importance of this protocol:

“My seventh grandfather was born in Manadas, São Jorge, arriving here in Brazil in 1749 and marrying an Azorean woman from the island of Terceira. We are very proud of these Azorean roots, and this is a little bit of the history of the settlement of Florianópolis, which was formerly called Desterro and at that time had 5,000 inhabitants, At that time, around 6,000 Azoreans arrived here, and of these, 1,500 went to the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, and Uruguay. So all of today’s Azorean descendants came from those first 6,000 who arrived here,“ Topázio Silveira Neto told PT and WJFD, adding about the importance of the forum:

” This is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to revive these traditions and see how they are being perpetuated not only here but also in other countries, and we are very happy to have hosted the third part of the Global Forum of Espírito Santo here in Florianópolis. We are now preparing to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Azores in 2027, and to this end, we will soon appoint a committee to prepare for this great event ,” the mayor of Florianópolis told PT and WJFD. The following day, he welcomed the entire delegation with a lunch at City Hall, where souvenirs were exchanged to mark the visit of the Azorean delegation and the diaspora in Florianópolis.

Also on Friday afternoon, September 26, the delegation from the Azores, the USA, and Canada was received by the vice-governor of the State of Santa Catarina, Marilisa Boehm, with Paulo Estêvão and the vice-governor exchanging souvenirs and expressing their desire and the importance of strengthening relations between the Autonomous Region of the Azores and the State of Santa Catarina.

The delegation also had time to visit the Legislative Assembly of the State of Santa Catarina, where they were received by Deputy Mário Motta. Both sides learned about the political processes and systems of the State of Santa Catarina and the Autonomous Region of the Azores, and souvenirs were exchanged to commemorate the visit of the Government of the Azores’ representatives to Santa Catarina.

Training session for Azorean folklore groups in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

On Saturday morning, a training session was held for Azorean folklore groups from Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul at the Integrated Culture Center in Florianópolis, attended by several entities:

José Andrade, regional director of Communities, Marcos Pinheiro, advisor to the Azorean Diaspora in Santa Catarina and director of International Relations at the Casa dos Açores in Santa Catarina, Viviane Peixoto Hunter, president of the Casa dos Açores in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Maria Teresinha Debatin, president of the Catarinense Culture Foundation, and Paulo Estêvão, regional secretary for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities.

This was followed in the morning and afternoon by training sessions led by rehearsal directors Leandro Ávila (Terceira Island) and Luísa Bairos (São Miguel), with 80 trainees enrolled.

– Francisco Resendes, Portuguese Times

This is one of three articles that we will be publishing in English translation. This one was first published on the October 1st edition of the newspaper Portuguese Times, directed by Francisco Resendes. We are thankful for the opportunity to bring these excellent articles to our students and the community at large.

Translated into English as a community outreach program by the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL), in collaboration with Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno. PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.