Flight of the Dove Transcript
- [Maria] I think it's important that if you know about your culture, if you know your backgrounds, if you know your roots, you understand each other much better, and it's something you'd like to maintain. Inside here?
- [Susanne] We'll see. Let's see.
- You'll feel more comfortable that way.
- No, I was thinking that you put it in the same place.
- No. No.
- Isn't this the old? Nostalgic, doesn't this look nostalgic to you?
- Mommy?
- [Maria] Yes, dear.
- Should I wear the purple ones instead?
- I like those better with that blue. You go ahead and put the purple ones, doesn't blender at all, I think. I mean, not that we're trying to blend, but. If I consider myself Portuguese or American? That's a good question. I've consider myself Portuguese, due to fact I was born there. I was born there and that was my first language. It was all I knew for 15 years. You know, was this little island, this little hometown, the same faces you see every day. It was a warm feel. If I talk about it I feel really good about talking about, but I've been in this country for 22 years, and I love this country.
- Oh, no question I feel myself American. That's hard to answer, Nancy, because I feel myself Portuguese also. I feel myself American because I'm American, my kids are American. Yet we can go home and we can talk about the values of what the family has, the Portuguese, what values they have. We can go to a Portuguese party, celebration, festivity, and feel totally Portuguese.
- Don't when you put your costume on, don't you feel more Portuguese? Why not?
- 'Cause--
- You're wearing these like historical clothings.
- Where I don't wear very much.
- Yeah, but doesn't matter how much you wear it--
- Ouch!
- Just depends when you do.
- Wanna see my hat, Virginia?
- [Virginia] Yes, I'd like to see your hat, Gerard.
- I'm dying to put this on, Jesus Christ. This is a little Portuguese hat. This is what they put on their little heads when they go out in the evening to keep their heads warm. You know, it's not a Jewish beanie. It's just a little Portuguese hat. And actually, traditionally it came from the fishermen.
- [Virginia] You look very sweet, Gerard.
- How do I look, what do you guys think, huh?
- Sweet, very sweet.
- I'm ready to go dance and perform, huh?
- After all these cultural experiences you don't know if you wanna be Portuguese?
- Mmh-mh.
- Do you think you're being silly?
- No.
- I think you are.
- Nope.
- After Mom and Papa keep talking to you about how fantastic it is to be Portuguese.
- I already learnt too much about it when I was little.
- [Deen] The Batista's are one of many Portuguese-American families living in the Chino Valley of Southern California. Like other immigrant groups, they face the question of how to maintain and pass on their traditions and cultural values as they become immersed in a new way of life. Immigrants from Portugal's Azores Islands first came to California in the mid 1800s. Most recently they have settled in the dairy farming region of the Chino Valley. As an all Azorean communities, one of the first orders of business was to found a Holy Spirit Society for the purpose of sponsoring the Holy Spirit Festival. It is the Holy Spirit Festival more than anything else that has kept Portuguese-Americans together in the New World. On the remote Azores Islands, 800 miles off the coast of Portugal, ritual honoring of the Holy Spirit has always been a central part of community life. Though the tradition has died out on mainland Portugal where it began, it has grown in intensity on the poor islands.
- In the Azores Islands, the climate was very harsh to them, surrounded by ocean, away from the rest of the world. The Atlantic ocean can be very mean in those areas. At times it looked like the ocean will eat the islands up. Was very scary thing, they lived in a world of fear and the only thing they had to hang on to their faith and that helped them lift that fear.
- [Deen] The Holy Spirit Festival dates back to 1325, when legend has it that Queen Isabel pray to the Holy Spirit to bring relief to the famine and strife that plagued Portugal. When her prayers were answered, she threw a great feast for all the people. Then she forever captured their hearts by placing her crown on the head of a poor child, saying "In the eyes of God, we are all equal." The Chino Valley is unique in celebrating two Holy Spirit Festivals. One that has evolved in this country, and a recent revival of the festival as it is celebrated in the Azores.
- I wanted to say, if the legs could come out a little more, let's say it's soaring in the sky.
- Ow, that would be great.
- [Deen] As part of the traditional celebration, the Batista's built an altar in their home for the Holy Spirit crown.
- Traditionally, if people had someone ill in their home, or some other major disaster that had occurred, they would pray to the Holy Spirit and say, if so and so gets better or if this disaster improves, they would try to bring the crown in their home and pray to the Holy Spirit.
- You wanna come here because she's holding her baby. Come on in.
- Hello.
- Hi. How're you?
- I'm doing just fine.
- Ow, how beautiful, it's going to smile.
- Where do you want me to put this, please?
- [Deen] As in the Azores, the crown travels to seven different homes in the community during the seven weeks following Easter. And family and friends come over each night to pray the rosary before the crown.
- [Maria] The crown itself represents royalty. And on top of the crown, there is a globe that represents the world, and on top of the world, it has a dove. And that is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Having the whole family in my house, it just made me feel like we're back in the old days and the old time, where we all had friends over and we're all in a moment of devotion to the Holy Spirit, in a most peaceful way where everybody just participated fully. It was wonderful thing.
- [Deen] Though the ritual may not hold the same meaning for Suzanne Batista as for her mother, she is nevertheless exposed to the religious and family values that are so important to the Portuguese. On the eighth Sunday, which is Trinity Sunday, Susanne joins others in the community as they bring the crown to mass. As in the Azores, those sponsoring the festival choose several children to be crowned. They are traditionally called the innocence, and represent the poor childhood whom Queen Isabel crowned. Though the symbolic crowning of the poor child may have little meaning for the American-born children, the feast that follows is as popular as ever. Their traditional beef and cabbage soup or Sopas is served free of charge to everyone who comes, thanks to donations of cattle by local Portuguese dairy farmers. In turn, these farmers become the subject of improvised competitive songs. All of these festivities traditionally help disorients cope with the harsh realities of life on the islands. And this local revival of the festival as it is celebrated in the Azores is a chance to share memories of the past. The Portuguese people are very nostalgic, they like to live in a past, to dances in their folk singing is so much part of their lives. Other than believing in God and praying, it was a happy side of their life.
- The instant image that's created in my mind when I think of the Azores is farmland and green fields. And it looked like patchwork when you're in the airplane going down. And it's pretty and it's slow. And people are community.
- [Deen] Maintaining that sense of community is a growing challenge in a more urban and affluent America, and Azorean traditions have changed to appeal to more Americanized tastes. Before the traditional Holy Spirit Festival is over, preparations have already begun throughout California for the much more elaborate celebration that has evolved in this country. The focus is no longer on the poor children, but on a junior and senior queen.
- She loves this one and my mom likes this one.
- She's gonna take this.
- She's got to choose.
- [Woman] I would say she's more American, definitely. She keeps saying, you know, I don't wanna be Portuguese, but we always try to remind her that it's important that she wants to be Portuguese to be representing the Holy Spirit.
- [Deen] With their increased resources in America, the Queen's family may now spend several thousand dollars on a royal regalia. And even the queen is no longer clear on whether she represents Queen Isabel, who gave her wealth to the poor or the poor child whom she crowned. What is clear is that the Queen's cape will be the center of attention at the festival, and family and friends work together for months ahead of time designing one that will hopefully outshine all others.
- We're gonna have this one down and then I'm gonna have another one like this up. Hot.
- [Deen] The queen is chosen by a relative or friend on the Holy Spirit committee. So there is little competition to become queen, but there is a great sense of competition with the queen from the year before, who will give up the crown.
- I gotta give it to her. It's kind of sad, 'cause I was queen for a long time. But, there has to be a new one every year.
- Drum rolls, please.
- Oh my gosh.
- The devotion to the Holy Spirit I think is changed here, due to the fact that we take it for granted this lifestyle. I think it happens in any area, in any country, that when people have a hard life they become more attached to something, they have to believe in something, and that helps them live. Well, when you come to US you have such a beautiful country in general and it's so much abundance and people live in such freedom, in such a way that sometimes you do forget.
- Ouch, you're pulling my hair.
- Yeah, because the cover this. Was just a couple of weeks ago on Pismo, it was fun. Now I know when your hair is too tight, you know they fix them so tight.
- That's the way I wanted it.
- That's not the best idea.
- Ow!
- Okay, little right there.
- Mag, can you imagine with the cape and tons of material on top of me? I'm gonna be dead meat on that day. It is, really.
- What are you gonna carry around the house?
- Poh, I do wanna return the Queen piece, I'm tired of doing, nah, kinda, not a lot. But it's tired of going to all those parades and getting dressed and putting on the crown, this thing's a killer, that's the thing. But I like it a lot, I wish I didn't need to give it away, but you have to, everybody wants to be queen.
- [Deen] As in the traditional festival, there is once again a procession to church for a coronation. But this time it is not the poor children or the innocents who are crowned, but the queen.
- Here is really a mixture of two different cultures. But more vivid, that I think stronger, yeah, you see the American style in it. More festive in a way, not so religious. First of all, they don't call it a procession, they call it a parade. So that already psychological changes the whole look of it. One of the things I don't like about this is the competition that it creates. The competition of each year, seeing which one does better than one the year before. More rich looking than the one year before. But yet, when I'm in another community and I see the Chino Queen go by, I feel very proud, that she's there representing our community.
- [Deen] It is this Holy Spirit celebration that takes place in every Azorean community in California. Festivals are held on different weekends throughout the summer, allowing the Queen's from the different communities to participate in each other's processions. And as the festivals become more elaborate, they bring together more Portuguese from further away, providing a show of ethnic solidarity to those outside the Portuguese community.
- There's a lot of competition, because every year, like I'm trying to do something different from what the other queen did. And probably next year the new queen will try to do something different from what I'm doing today. Yes, it is a challenge for me. Yeah, because if they do better than I did, I will be most glad they do. Because they keep on trying, and as long as they keep on trying, it's good for them. It's like they will keep the tradition or whatever feelings they have alive, they will keep on going and going. But if they don't try to change it, it's gonna die sometime. This year I'm doing it different because I've chosen different songs for each step of the way that I'm going, and I'm really looking forward for that. Is gonna be something different. It's just that you don't have that many chances of getting together with everybody 'cause they have their own jobs, their own things. So why not, if you have the chance why not make it worth it?
- The celebrations that took place and the functions that go on throughout the year, were primarily religious functions, but also created the atmosphere of a social gathering, where you could go with your family, and as your children grow up they meet friends, and very, very, very possible they meet a young person that they become interested in, and from that beginning creates a romance. ♪ Could I make it through the night ♪ ♪ Cherish the night we had ♪ What kind of people do you meet there at those functions? People like yourself, people that share the same interest, the same religious values, the same set of family values. In September '66, you're right. Is that the first time we met.
- Yes, it is.
- I didn't see you before that.
- No, you didn't. I had just arrived two days before that. We met here at the theater and he asked me to dance and I was so shy I said no. And I felt really bad 'cause that's like an insult, an insult if you say no, but I just was so shy, I couldn't do it.
- [Man] What dance was that at?
- It was a Holy Spirit's celebration like it is right now. Everyone's gonna come to the celebration so that they can see their friends and relatives that they haven't seen for a while. Yes, it's a place where they meet socially.
- It becomes then a more social thing rather than a spiritual thing. It's difficult to feel the same way exactly what we used to feel when we have such richness around us. When there's such temptations that's elaborate capes and dresses. My nine year old daughter, it was Queen Day this year, she was really excited. She put the tiara on she was showing me how pretty she looked. And I saw that in her and I somewhat changed my feelings towards it more because I realized that's all they've known. And if we continue to do this and honor the Holy Spirit, If this is a reason to bring us, the people together and social and exemplifying family style, then it's a good thing, then I look at it as being a positive things.
- [Deen] The changes in the festival have helped bridge the cultural gap between immigrants and their children. And in the process, Azoreans have been able to adapt to their new culture, while maintaining a sense of continuity with their past.
