A bittersweet renewal of Portuguese festival
Tradition in Fall River was put on hold after four killed in '06 blaze
FALL RIVER - The costumes have been cleaned, two bulls and several goats scheduled to arrive, and sweet breads and wine donated, yet the Portuguese festival of the Holy Ghost today in the city's Flint neighborhood will be a bittersweet celebration.
Two years ago today, four women died when a candle they lighted in prayer ignited a crepe-paper flower on a festival shrine, sparking a massive blaze. Until this year, survivors skipped the age-old custom of holding a procession and feast as the community mourned. But this year, Kimberly Raposo decided it was time to revive the tradition.
"It's hard, but doing this gives you strength," the 32 year-old said, growing tearful. "I just feel in my heart it's the right thing to do."
The deaths still cause many in this city's tight-knit neighborhood - where Portuguese is spoken on the streets and grape arbors adorn backyards - to turn away and shudder, and others to weep. The fire ripped through the meeting hall of St. John Holy Ghost Association, a Portuguese social club, killing 80-year-old Emiliana Carvalho, 70-year-old Mary Isabel Raposa, Geraldine Andrade, 63, and Christina Costa, a 31-year-old with Down syndrome. The women had been praying before a homemade shrine when the fire erupted. Some tried to smother the flames with purses or stamp it out with their feet, but it spread quickly. The doors of the hall would not open, forcing some people to smash through windows to escape.
In the days and weeks that followed, people in the community attended funerals, rather than the feasts they had been looking forward to.
Jose DaCosta, chairman of the St. John Holy Ghost Association Committee, lost his sister-in-law, Carvalho, and niece, Raposa, in the fire. He said he will attend the festival, and, like many, will try to have fun.
"It just takes time to get over it," DaCosta said. "You try to forget, but you just cannot and life goes on."
The festival is an annual expression of devotion to the Holy Spirit, which is revered in the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago. As residents of the Azores immigrated to America, and to Fall River, they brought the festival with them.
The celebrations, strongly Catholic in character, are led by lay people and not officially recognized by the church. The biggest procession takes place on the Sunday after Pentecost and is preceded by a Mass. In places like Fall River, people come together in the evenings for several weeks before the feast to recite the rosary. The tradition dates back more than 500 years, inspired by a 13th- to 14th-century Portuguese saint, Queen Elizabeth.
Today's procession begins at 4 p.m. and is a prelude to a larger celebration and Mass at Espirito Santo parish on June 22. It will begin in front of Raposo's apartment, a three-decker on Tremont Street decorated with Portuguese and American flags, and move along three or four blocks before circling back to Raposo's yard for a meal and music. Children will be dressed as saints, sheepherders, and fishermen. Some, including one of Raposo's sons, will walk with goats. Other participants will carry a huge crown, donated by another Holy Ghost social club in nearby Dartmouth. One of the biggest draws is a wagon that will carry two 1,000-pound bulls, which are brought to the event annually by a member of the association who lives in Westwood and keeps them specifically for the event, Raposo said.
Hundreds are expected to line the streets while members of the procession pass out traditional sweet breads and pour wine. She and her husband, a construction worker, also open up their small apartment and a shrine to the Holy Ghost in their kitchen to guests.
There will be candles, Raposo said. The battery-operated kind.
"You should never keep the Holy Ghost in the dark," she said.
