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11 · Thursday, June 3, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Portuguese festival HONOURING THE HOLY GHOST: The Holy Trinity Divino Espirito Santo Festival (the Feast of the Holy Ghost) was held at St. Joseph's Portuguese Church on Old Bronte Road Sunday. It was hosted by Filarmonica Lira Bom Jesus of Oakville (top right) to honour Jose Gomes, his wife Maria Fatima Soares and their family (above left). It featured a mass and solemn procession with the marching band. Following the procession, the congregation gathered for a meal in the church hall that included traditional cuisine such as Portuguese sweet bread, arroz doce, rosquilhas and sopas. The festival has its origins in the Azores, nine tiny islands just off the coast of Portugal, where religious celebrations include Christmas and Easter as well as one honouring a community's patron saint and the other, taking place in the eight weeks after Easter, honouring the Holy Ghost. Though Azoreans are traditional Catholics, celebrating the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, devotion to the Holy Ghost is central to their religious system. The festival grew from the reign of Portugal's Queen Isabela between 1295 and 1322 in which two ships laden with goods, but no people, appeared in the harbour after the queen implored the Holy Ghost to help the poor people of her nation. The festival that followed is a tradition that continues today in the Azores, and while not widely celebrated in continental Portugal, it is celebrated in Bermuda, Canada, the United States and Brazil. For more information about upcoming festivals, check out the band's website www.filarmonicalirabomjesus.com. PHOTOS BY ERIC RIEHL / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER & COURTESY FAMILY OF MARIA FATIMA SOARES