Holy Ghost Festival provides food and fun, but no bullfights

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jul 23, 2006 | by Matthew Artz, STAFF WRITER

NEWARK -- No one in town was too good for a handout Saturday.

Revelers munched on sweet bread and dried beans on Day One of the Holy Ghost Festival, the signature celebration for Tri-Cities residents of Portuguese descent.

"This is one of the best festivals to come to," said Mary Dutra of Livermore. "I want my kids and grandchildren to learn Portuguese traditions."

The weekend event at the Newark Pavilion celebrates the charity of Queen Isabel, a 13th century monarch who gave food to the poor. For 84 years, local Portuguese have honored her during the festival by handing out free food, including the traditional sopa, a beef- and-bread soup. In 1990, the community added a parade, replete this year with horses, cows and bulls, said Mary Teixeira, a festival organizer. The procession resembles festivals in the Azores, a chain of islands where the tradition originated and which many local Portuguese call home.

The parade featured several well-attired matadors and horsemen, but no bullfighting or cow milking that would be commonplace on the other side of the Atlantic.

"You can't have bullfights in Newark," said Fernando Rocha, who helped transport the livestock from Turlock.

Later Saturday would be dancing and the coronation of new queens, who will participate in a bigger parade today.

Saturday's festival was bittersweet for Nicole Freitas, daughter of Newark City Councilman Luis Freitas. At 19, after six reigns as queen, she will give up the tiara for good this year.

"It's a little sad," she said. "I've done it so many times, I think I'm too old to do it anymore."

Every queen needs flower girls and all the flower girls need matching dresses. But a mix-up by the dress supplier was a let-down for Samantha Bogosian. She lost her chance to be a flower girl when her dress arrived in the wrong size.

"I made sure I would get this weekend off, only for the company to screw up," she said.

While everyone said they were proud to be Portuguese, some folks said they would rather be elsewhere on a blistering hot Saturday.

Joe Rodrigues said he attended the festival as a teenager to chase girls. Now, more than 30 years later, he's a prisoner of his wife and daughter. "I'd rather be inside or working on my lawn," he said.

Rodrigues did say he enjoys the free food, and dispensers of bread, meat and beans were honored to oblige.

"We come from a place where you feed everybody, so no one goes without food." said Lydia Gomes, who was handing out sweet bread.