Holidays of the Holy Spirit

In the archipelago of Azores, the famous Holidays of the Holy Spirit are celebrated every Sunday between April and June, and marked differences between the islands and the villages. The feasts of the Holy Spirit came from peninsular Portugal with the first colonists and they preserve the medieval origin in its popular slope and in the color of the ceremonies. What contribute to the worship stayed and remained here was that they Invoke the Holy Spirit every time that happened natural catastrophes that were punishing the archipelago, the reputation of its miracles, the difficult life and the isolation of the islands, while it was getting over in peninsular Portugal.

The rituals are kept almost untouched. An emperor is crowned in the parochial church. With a sceptre and a plate of silver, as symbol of the Holy Spirit, presides the holidays every Sunday, for seven weeks after Easter. On Sunday of Pentecost, a great holiday is celebrated in the city. The fulcrum of the ceremonies is a small chapel, or imperio, used for the distribution of the soup of the Holy Spirit, with meat and vegetables. In the altar, there are exposed the crown, the plate and the sceptre.

The time contributed to the feasts of the Holy Spirit own characteristics in every island, though some elements are kept jointly as the coronation of the emperor, the exhibition of his emblems - wreath and sceptre - the parade of the emperor and the empress with there retinue and the day of the holiday in which the offerings breads, meat and wine are distributed.