Portuguese Festa celebrates Queen’s sacrifice for hunger

All are welcome to the annual Portuguese Festa this weekend that celebrates the Queen Saint Isabella’s sacrifice for her people’s hunger.

A dance will kick off the festivities Saturday at 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church. The traditional crowning of the young queens and princesses will start at 9 p.m., with “linguisa” (a smoked pork sausage) on rolls served at 10 p.m.

Sunday at 10:45 a.m., there will be a parade from the former West End Elementary School to the church. During the 11 a.m. traditional mass, there is a crowning of the senior queen and her special blessing. Afterward, attendees may head over to the parish hall for Azores-style “sopas” or bowls of soup that are a meat broth with cabbages, potatoes, olives and pickles.

“It really is a fun event,” said Valerie Serpa, whose family has lived in the area for a century.

“I can remember going (to the festa) when I was a little girl,” Serpa said, “sitting under the tables and listening to the people, and my grandfather, talk in Portuguese. My grandpa didn’t speak it much at home; he was trying really hard to be American. But when he would get together with his Portuguese friends from the Azores, they would talk, talk, talk. I wished I could understand. It sounded so beautiful.”

The Azores are an island cluster to the west of Portugal. In the late 1200s, when famine ravaged the Azores and mainland Portugal, their reigning Queen Isabella prayed to the Holy Ghost for days and offered up her own crown as a sacrifice.

“Queen Isabella said ‘she would do anything to help her people,’” remarked Stephanie Hamlin, whose 15-year-old daughter, Kinna,is Festa queen this year.

“The procession in the church is to re-enact the queen taking her crown jewels to the altar,” Hamlin said about the Sunday mass tradition. “The crown used is on loan from the (Churchill County) museum.”

The story continues that on the morning of the Pentecost Sunday, the people of the Azores saw in the sunrise a ship coming into port laden with food. Since then, all over the world, Portuguese communities and their friends continue to commemorate the answered prayers with thanksgiving.

The first “feast of the Holy Spirit” in Fallon was held in 1927. Fallon is home to a number of Portuguese families who have made significant contributions to the area’s cultural, linguistic, agricultural and commercial heritages and who also enjoy sharing this tradition with anyone interested in some fun.

“It’s very fun for whoever can come,” Hamlin said. “I love that part, I really do.”

Hamlin has been going to the Festa since she was two and was queen in 1988.

“There are a lot of us who are involved,” Hamlin said, “whether it’s in the kitchen, making the sopas, planning, doing the flowers or auction, or preparing to help the girls … There are so many who have done it and our kids are doing it now. Boys can be involved too … It’s really neat, not just the tradition but the families—how important it is to pass that connection on to your children.”

Many Portuguese migrated from the mid-Atlantic Azores islands and Portugal to Nevada in the 1870s. Most initially settled on the East and West coasts. In the West, they eventually spread out to inland areas to ranch, farm, mine and operate businesses.

Portuguese immigrants were dairy industry leaders and by the early 1930s, their presence in Churchill County turned the annual Festa into a major local event.

Portuguese Festas also are held in Lovelock and Yerington.

The Sunday “sopa” meal is $5 (ages 12 and under are free).