Regional Government promotes 1st Global Holy Spirit Forum - Communication

Secretaria Regional dos Assuntos Parlamentares e Comunidades

The Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities, through the Regional Directorate for the Communities, is promoting the First Global Holy Spirit Forum next week in Ponta Delgada, with speakers from Portugal, Brazil, the United States of America, and Canada.

The Global Holy Spirit Forum, which takes place in July, August and September, aims to follow the three largest festivities representing this religious manifestation in the Azores, North America and South America, respectively: the Great Feast of the Holy Spirit of Ponta Delgada, the Great Feast of Holy Ghost of New England and the Great Feast of the Holy Spirit Cycle of Santa Catarina (Brazil).

This initiative aims to reinvigorate and promote what is considered the common identity of all Azoreans, in its religious, cultural, social and economic aspects, recognising and celebrating the differences and similarities of its many transatlantic manifestations.

In this regard, the Global Holy Spirit Forum brings together a panel of personalities who will address the scientific and organisational components of the Holy Spirit festivals in the Azores and the Diaspora, focusing their presentations on the specificities and characteristics of the respective celebrations in the Azores, Brazil, Canada, and the United States of America.

The first of the three parts of the event will be held on July 10 and 11 at the auditorium of the Regional Secretariat for Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructures, in Ponta Delgada, with free admission for the general public.

The opening session, scheduled for 2 p.m. on July 10, will feature the Regional Director for Communities, José Andrade, alongside the mayors of Ponta Delgada, Pedro Nascimento Cabral, and Alenquer, Pedro Folgado.

The presentations from the first session of the Forum are as follows: Pedro Furtado, coordinator of the Great Feasts of the Holy Spirit of Ponta Delgada; Márcia Sousa da Ponte, president of the Great Feasts of the Holy Ghost of New England; and Roseli Pereira, coordinator of the Holy Spirit Cycle of Santa Catarina.

On the second day, July 11, also from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., João Leal, Professor at the University of Lisbon, will talk about the Holy Spirit festivals in Portugal and the Americas; Lélia Nunes, Director of Cultural Heritage at the Catarinense Cultural Foundation, will dedicate her presentation to these festivities in Brazil; António Goulart, researcher of Azorean culture in the State of California, will address this popular cult in the United States of America; and Ilda Januário, Professor at the University of Toronto, will focus her presentation on the religious celebrations of the Azorean communities in Canada.

In addition to the audience present, the sessions will be broadcast live on the "Comunidades Açores" page on Facebook and Instagram and the Regional Government's YouTube channel.

This initiative continues the efforts undertaken by the Azorean Government to strengthen and promote the ties uniting the Region and the diaspora, in this case through one of the events that best identifies the Azorean people, wherever they may be.