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Heritage is a Wonderful Thing

August 20, 2014 By Portuguese Heritage Publications Leave a Comment

The Marin Headlands area, (and probably where you live, too) is full of historical spots. That is how I got the seed in my head for my story, Maria and the Lost Calf....I saw remnants of old dairy farms, fences, barns…..and the story grew into my book.
Heritage is a wonderful thing…and we all have one….and I have been realizing that it is good to find out about your heritage while you can. The people who know about our past will be gone, and with them, the stories, the history.
My maternal grandmother was from Ireland and came to this country as a young woman, met my grandfather, married. They had a ranch in South Dakota, raised their children, one of which is my father, and I was a young adult when she died. I should have asked her questions- oh, the questions I wish I would have asked!! But I’d didn’t , and I know almost nothing about her, and no one can tell me now.And my husband’s paternal grandparents were from Spain, same story-we even had our own children when they died- and did we dig into their history? Unfortunately not.Talking to the Azoreans I met at a Portuguese Festival a few months ago, I was entranced, I was fascinated by their stories….listening to them put me on an island in the Azores, and I could almost see their lives.  I truly hope their children and grandchildren are digging into their pasts and preserving memories.

So please ask questions!

Listen to their stories – they came from lands far away and have stories to share that need to be remembered and recorded…If you have stories to share, I would love to hear… leave a comment, or email PHPC at info@PortugueseBooks.Org and I will get in touch with you to hear YOUR story…

The author: Kate Morejohn

For more details about the children’s book “Maria and the Lost Calf”, please visit:

Maria and the Lost Calf – Maria e a Bezerrinha Perdida

Filed Under: Website Tagged With: Azores, Children'book, lost calf, Marin headlands, Portuguese, story

Portuguese-Americans in Tulare: A time for celebration and reflection

December 28, 2013 By phpc13ad57 Leave a Comment

By Diniz (Dennis) Borges Special to the Tulare Voice

The Portuguese-American community in Tulare is changing. Our immigration began in the 19th century and had two strong waves in the 20th century: from 1902 to 1921 and again from 1959 to 1978.

Diniz (Dennis) BorgesAs the community integrates, and rightly so, into America’s mainstream, and as the younger generations become more American and less Portuguese, our associations and cultural organizations also must adapt and transform.

So as we celebrate the numerous events of 2013, we must also put forth a reflected and ambitious plan for 2014 and beyond.

Ask anyone in Tulare about the activities of the Portuguese-American and you will get a similar response: Festas. These traditional events have been part of the religious and cultural idiosyncrasies of our community since we came from the Azores islands.

This year, one of the most remarkable events was indeed the Portuguese Holy Ghost Celebration (Festa do Divino Espírito Santo). Held in Tulare for more than 100 years, most of the celebrations have been under the auspices of the TDES hall.

This year’s event was an exceptional celebration put forth by a large committee lead by Manuel and Alda Lawrence, both emigrants from the Azores, who came to America at a very young age. Through their vision, leadership and community unity, they were able to conjugate an amalgam of activists and groups, constructing a weeklong event that celebrated a 700 year old tradition.

They were able to congregate folks of all age groups from students to senior citizens.  The Lawrences certainly took an important and much needed step in making the Festa (as it is popularly known) a celebration that involved the entire community. Kudos to the Lawrences for their significant contribution and leadership.

Our next step must be in the direction of making sure the Festa is part of our mainstream social and cultural calendar, with more visibility and totally opened to all the ethnic and racial groups that compose our truly unique human mosaic.

Tulare’s Portuguese-American community had an array of events in 2013, mostly social and gastronomical, celebrating some cyclical traditions brought over from the Azores islands. Amongst them were:

  • Matança do Porco (Killing of the Pig) at Tulare-Angrense Athletic Club in March.
  •  S. Martinho (celebrating the new wine) by the Portuguese Cultural and Evangelization Center in October.
  •  Danças do Carnaval (Mardi Gras) in February, a vaudeville type of performance that involves groups from various parts the state, at both TDES and TAAC halls.
  •  Epiphany celebration by the students at the Portuguese Language school Vitorino Nemésio at St. Aloysius Catholic Church.
  •  The yearly celebration of popular culture and philharmonic band presentation in August, promoted by the Tulare Portuguese Philharmonics Band.
  •  The Portuguese-American County Breakfast, Tastes and Sounds of the Azores, Azorean-American Cultural Week (in October); Portuguese Immigrant Week (March); Portuguese-American Heritage Days (April), Portuguese Education Day (Oct. 22) and the MVPA Awards promoted by the Society of Portuguese-American Students (SOPAS) with the collaboration of other Portuguese-American organizations such as: CPEC, TAAC and TDES.

The year was also manifested by cultural events put forth by the Tulare-Angra Sister City Foundation, including a performance by two Azorean poets and singers, co-sponsored by SOPAS, promoting the richness of the Portuguese poetry; and a book presentation co-sponsored by the Tulare Historical Museum.

The book, a first in the Portuguese-American community, was entitled: “California’s Portuguese Politicians: a Century of Legislative service.” It was researched and written by Dr. Alvin Graves, who worked for many years at the local Wells Fargo Bank, and features the individual and collective stories of several Portuguese-Americans who have served at the state and national level, in our state and national legislative bodies.

One of those featured, Tulare resident and Congressman Devin Nunes, was the keynote speaker at the book launching.

This very elegant, hard covered book, was published by the Portuguese Heritage Publications of California, the primary publishing house of the history of the Portuguese in this state and one of the foremost Portuguese-American publishers in the country. It was certainly an honor for our community to host the first and official launching in our city.

The Tulare-Angra Sister City Foundation also hosted, with the collaboration of other organizations, the visit of Dr. Paulo Teves, director of Azorean communities, and the Sanjoaninas Committee.

This yearly visit promotes the June SanJoaninas (St. John’s) celebration, the largest celebration Angra do Heroismo, Tulare’s Sister City on Terceira Island, holds.

As the Portuguese-American community continues its metamorphosis into the American mainstream, it must look into its celebrations and cultural events – some of them seeing fewer and fewer participants each year – and reflect seriously not only on which need to be maintained, but also on what needs to be worked and reworked in order to fit the acculturation process our community undergoing.  This is a healthy and natural process in a community that 35 years ago ceased to have significant immigration.

In 2014, we in the Portuguese-American community must look into our soul and collectively reflect on how we are going to preserve and promote, within our families and with our neighbors and friends from other ethnic groups in Tulare, our traditions, our culture and our ties to the islands that we, or our forefathers, left in the middle of the North Atlantic.

Diniz (Dennis) Borges is a Portuguese language instructor at Tulare Union High School and College of the Sequoias. He is also president of the North American Portuguese Teacher’s Association and the secretary of the National Organization of Portuguese-Americans

Filed Under: Website Tagged With: Azores, festas, immigrants, Portuguese, SOPAS, Tulare

Whale Watching in the Azores Islands

September 2, 2012 By phpc13ad57 Leave a Comment

From whale hunting in the nineteenth century, to whale protecting in the twentieth century and whale watching in the twenty first century the Azores islands and surrounding marine habitat have become  a whale’s peaceful paradise. To get the flavor of the islands and appreciate these beautiful and peaceful animals, watch this video.

To learn about whaling in California by the Portuguese shore whalers from the 1850’s to early 1900’s, the majority of whom came from the Azores islands, please read our publication The Portuguese Shore Whalers of California, 1854-1904. By today’s standards, whaling is a cruel and heartless industry, pitting men and their equipment against these wonderful mammals of the sea. Yet whaling once played an important part in improving people’s standard of living in many areas of the world.

The Portuguese Shore Whalers of California 1854-1904

Filed Under: Website Tagged With: Azores, Whales

New York Boy’s Message in a Bottle Reaches Azores

December 10, 2011 By phpc13ad57 Leave a Comment

An 11-year-old US boy was stunned to get a reply to his message in a bottle from Portugal’s Azores Islands – via the more surefire medium of email.
Curtis Kipple wrote a letter about himself and his hometown in New York state, and put it in a bottle which was dropped into the Atlantic in March. The message was found last week by Ana Ponte, 25, from a fishing village in the island of Terceira, on the Azores archipelago.Message in a bottle
The fifth-grader’s bottle had travelled 2,600 miles (4,190km). “My brother and my father wake up earlier today and went to sea to catch a seafood very common here, and found a bottle with a message from a boy Curtis Kipple,” said Ms Ponte’s email -written in both English and Portuguese – to Curtis’s school.
The bottle was set adrift 10 months ago by a fisherman off North Carolina’s
Outer Banks. Chris Albrecht – Curtis’s teacher at Fred W Hill School in Brockport, New
York state – said the project had really caught the children’s imagination.”Curtis had tears in his eyes when I told him the news,” said Mr Albrecht.
The boy’s bottled message was not the first to be found – another was discovered in Nova Scotia in June – but Curtis’s has travelled the farthest.
Map
Mr Albrecht, who teaches language, arts and science, said it was a useful
exercise for teaching children about geography and how to write formal
letters.

Filed Under: Website Tagged With: Azores, message in a bottle, New York

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Recent Posts

  • Untamed Dreams – Faces of America
  • Maria and the Lost Calf – A Visit to California Schools
  • Maria and the Lost Calf – An Award Winner Children’s Book
  • Untamed Dreams – Faces of America
  • THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT

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