Sunday parade, dance continue long Benicia tradition

For the 108th year, Benicians will participate Sunday in the Holy Ghost Festa, a celebration that itself dates to the late 13th century, said Ken Gonsalves, president of the Benicia Holy Ghost Society.

“The Benicia Holy Ghost Society is one steeped in tradition, a tradition for Portuguese Americans and Benicians,” Gonsalves said.

“It represents a lifeline to the past and a vision of the future.”

This year, the society also celebrates the 100th year of the BDES Hall, the society’s building at 140 West J St. that also serves as the home for the Benicia Old Town Theatre Group.

The BDES Hall was the site of the May 17, 1915 Holy Ghost Festa, the first time the event was celebrated there, Gonsalves said.

“As for the 108th festa, it is a Portuguese celebration that dates back to the 13th century,” he said.

Portuguese Queen Isabel’s people were enduring a devastating famine. The queen prayed desperately for her people’s deliverance.

As the legend goes, “Three ships appeared in the harbor filled with grain in answer to her prayers,” Gonsalves said. “To show her deep gratitude and humility she placed her crown on the head of a young peasant girl. Today, the crowning of our queens symbolizes her actions long ago under her reign as queen of Portugal.”

The Holy Ghost Society has been in Benicia since 1907, “a valuable member of the community,” Gonsalves said. “It has contributed to the charm and essence that makes our town unique.”

The organization participates in multiple city events, but its most revered celebration is the Holy Ghost Festa and Parade, the first of which happened May 25, 1907, led by the IDES (Society of the Divine Holy Spirit) Council No. 35 at the UPEC (Portuguese) Hall on First Street.

In the early 1950s, when several IDES members retired, Benicians faced the loss of their own event, Gonsalves said. But after other members attended a Festa in Vallejo, then met later on their own, they decided to revive the Benicia Holy Ghost Committee, and committed to the continuation of the celebration.

They participated in 28 parades outside the city to promote the Benicia event, traveling to Fort Bragg, Dixon, Petaluma, Hayward, Oakland and Mission San Jose, among other communities. The local Festa was celebrated again in 1953, and has continued ever since.

“The efforts of that committee have continued to thrive to this day,” Gonsalves said. “Many offspring of those men and other fourth- and fifth-generation marchers and workers participate in the organization and continued success of the Festa.”

Among them are members of the Bettencourt family, which gave an Our Lady of Fatima statue to St. Dominic’s in 1954. Family members carried the statue in the Festa parade for the first time in 1954, and have continued to do so annually.

In 1972, the Holy Ghost Society changed the Festa date from May to the fourth Sunday in July. Among other notable events, four generations of queens marched in the Holy Ghost Parade in 1993, led by Maimie Joseph, who had been the queen in 1918, and including Eleanor Daniels, queen in 1945; Denise Bennett, queen in 1965; Megan Kirkpatrck, the 1990 queen; and Tiffany Bennett, the queen of 1993.

“In 2004, Sarah Haynes marched in the parade as the third generation of living ‘Little Queens,’” Gonsalves said. Marjorie Gonsalves, chosen in 1948, and Marjorie Gifford, the Little Queen of 1973, accompanied her. “All three are descendants of our first queen, Rose Duvall, 1907,” Gonsalves said.

The local events aren’t limited to those of Portuguese heritage, members of St. Dominic’s Church or the BDES Hall, he explained. All are welcome.

The parade will start at 10:15 a.m., Sunday at the BDES Hall, 140 West J St., and proceed to St. Dominic’s Church, 745 East I St. — itself 150 years old. The Festa queens will be crowned at the church, and Mass will be recited there at 11 a.m.

The parade then returns to the BDES Hall, where traditional sopas — beef and bread cooked in a spiced broth — will be served to members of the procession at 1 p.m. and the general public at 2 p.m.

An auction of donated items, from handcrafted jewelry, local fruits and vegetables to wine and local merchants’ gifts, starts at 2 p.m. Proceeds will go to support the event and for the care of the BDES Hall.

The Festa continues with a dance at 3 p.m. at the hall, featuring Portuguese entertainer Hermino Lemos, who will sing modern and traditional Portuguese music and play his guitar.

A sopa dinner will start at 6 p.m.

Admission to the Festa is free, and traditional Portuguese sweet bread and linguica sandwiches will be sold.

Those interested may visit the website beniciaholyghost.org.