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Line up on Main Street between IDES Grounds and Our Lady of the Pillar Church to view this colorful, Portuguese festival that features elegant Queen's courts, marching bands, flag/banner carriers and equestrian groups.
In Half Moon Bay, California, there is another layer of tradition on top of this, where there is the so-called Chamarita festival. This is also a Pentecost celebration, but one which derives specifically from the Azores, islands under the rule of Portugal during the 13th or 14th centuries, according to an article in the Half Moon Bay Review. At that time, there was a terrible disaster, and I am not certain of the nature of it, whether it was a volcano, an earthquake, or a combination. But it led to crop failures and famine on the Azores. The people prayed for deliverance and, on the Sunday of Pentecost, a ship filled with food supplies arrived in port as they had hoped. Its arrival was attributed to the merciful action of the Holy Spirit because of the timing. When the queen in Portugal heard of this, namely Queen Isabel, she held a solemn procession to the chapel in the capital of Lisbon to commemorate the occasion, carrying her own crown to the cathedral as a thank offering. It is this event which the Chamarita festival commemorates. (I have to admit I'm not entirely sure which Queen Isabel or Isabella of Portugal this one is, since the Wikipedia articles didn't mention this event. So, if any of you readers care to enlighten me, I'd be most grateful.)
The name Chamarita was evidently the name of a dance, originally, one customarily performed in the Portuguese communities. But the celebration is part of Pentecost still, as shown by the banners with the letters E.S. in them. My Portuguese is not at all good, but I do know that these letters stand for Espirito Santo, or Holy Spirit, in Portuguese. I couldn’t read most of the banners very well, but I.D.E.S. was on the main one: Irmandade do Divino Espirito Santo – Brotherhood of the Divine Holy Spirit. This was the group which sponsored the original Chamarita festival in the 1870’s in Half Moon Bay and continues to this day.
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