But for the uninitiated, the Sunday events are the most interesting. Appointed festa Queens (big Queen and little Queen) and their Side Maids make their way down the parade route towing capes of velvet, jewels, seed pearls, beading, feathers, and appliques (their finery, and other aspects of the festa, recall 14th-century Queen Isabel, a peacemaker and friend to the poor-particularly during a Portuguese famine).
A Portuguese brass band or two enliven the atmosphere.
At the church, the costumed parade cast jams into the front pews, and a Mass is said, often in Portuguese. After the Mass, the priest crowns the Queen at the altar.
A feast of tradition ~
The parade then returns to the Portuguese hall, where the new Queen releases a white dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, into the air. (The popular belief that a visit from the Holy Spirit is what enabled Isabel to relieve her people's suffering is the subject of several miraculous legends; according to one, the queen, smuggling food to the poor in midwinter, produced live roses from her robes when her husband, Diniz, demanded to see what she was concealing.)
Inside the festa hall, volunteers prepare sopas e carne (beef soup),
served free to everyone in the charitable spirit of Isabel. The cooking starts in the wee hours of the morning in order to have enough to feed everyone who attends, Portuguese or not.
To make the sopas, cows donated by Portuguese community members are slaughtered and boiled for about 6 hours in huge pots (some large enough to hold the meat of entire cows). Added are onions, paprika, cinnamon, cumin, tomato, wine, and sometimes cabbage. The broth is poured over French bread and mint sprigs; the beef is served alongside.
Bread and meat are served to the tables in huge metal bowls along with carafes of wine.
The hall fills up fast, as people finish, more are ushered in.
Everyone makes their plate.
Throughout the day, you can usually buy other Portuguese specialties-sweet bread, linguica, tremocos (boiled lupino beans).
After the meal, an auctioneer sells donated items like homemade bread, homemade wine, homemade table linens and a multitude of other items..
Proceeds are used to defray the cost of the festa's. Portuguese music fills the hall Sunday night (or sometimes Saturday),
and dancers stamp their feet, spin,
and pose according to the calls of the Chamarita. Generally, a community holds its festa at the same time every year."
Sunset Magazine
Every year I try (someone usually outbids me) to win some homemade delicacy.
This year I finally did!!
Portuguese Sweet Bread, Portuguese Cheese From Portugal (huge wheel came into the Oakland Port, they cut wedges and zip locked),
Casal Mendes (a white Portuguese Wine),
and the illusive Pièce de résistance....
Aquardente (Homemade Portuguese moonshine)!!