Portuguese-flavored event a big draw

About 2,000 people from as far away as Salt Lake City sat down for a traditional Portuguese meal Sunday in Orland.

The Holy Ghost Club prepared roast beef, potato salad and “soupas” – Portuguese for “soup” – for the 67th annual Portuguese Holy Ghost Festa at the Glenn County Fairgrounds. Also part of the festivities was a beer garden and live music outside.

“I’m very happy,” club President Mario Martins said. “This is a really successful year. The weather has lot to do with it and the music has a lot to do with it.”

Following Orland tradition, two meals were served, one at noon and the other at 6 p.m. Martins explained it was planned that way to accommodate dairy farmers who have always been big supporters of the event.

“The best part is seeing the big crowd,” Martins said, noting that “you don’t have be Portuguese to come.”

Father’s Day celebration

Also part of the Festa tradition in Orland is holding the event on Father’s Day. For many participants, it was a day to spend with family.

Johnny Gray’s bunch was a good example. At lunch four of his six children – all sons – and their wives sat around the table together. The other two were expected later.

His eldest son, Jason, said the day is half Portuguese Festa, “half Father’s Day. I’ve done this every year since I was born.”

Of his father, Jason said, “He’s honest, hardworking and donates big to charity. The day is special because I get to be with him for Father’s Day.”

No. 3 son O.J. added that “whenever you need him he’s around to be there for you.”  He also said he enjoys Orland’s Portuguese Festa because “I get to hang out with family.”

Scot, the youngest Gray, say besides spending time with family, the day is special “because I get to spent time with my dad.”

Mixed in with all the fun- and family-lovers were the Glenn County Big Queen and Little Queen courts and visiting queens from Chico,

Princeton and Fort Bragg.

The Big Queen court, this year, all hail from Willows. They, and the Little Queen court, are chosen by pulling names out of a hat to make it more equitable, The only requirements to put a name in the hat are that the girls are Portuguese, baptized Catholic and live in the area.

The Burson family traveled all the way from Salt Lake City just for the festival. Laura Gomes Burson grew up in Orland, but it was her first time at the event.

Thomas Burson, 15, said, “It’s an extra special day because we’re all together,” adding that his dad, Eric, “is a sweet dude. He’s tough, outgoing, very confident and in charge – he’s a leader.”

Similar festivals are held in Portuguese communities around the world at different times of the every year. Princeton’s Festa is Sunday.

Festas – pronounced FESH-tas – combine Catholic beliefs with centuries-old tradition.

The tradition is based on Queen Isabel of Portugal’s generosity at the end of a long famine during the early 14th century. Legend has it that a ship carrying food was blown off course, landing in a Portuguese harbor. From there, legends vary, but all agree that the Holy Spirit intervened, according to anthropologist Stephen Cabral. Also part of the legend, the queen placed a crown on a poor girl’s head and declared a day of celebration.

A shrine was set up in Whitsett-Cook Hall at the fairgrounds. It included a large crown and a small crown along with a scepter. The large crown represents Queen Isabel and the small one the young girl.

Money raised at the Orland events stays in Glenn County, Martins said. Donations go into a scholarship fund, to St. Dominic’s and St. Monica’s Catholic churches in Orland and Willows, Altar Society, Just 4 Kids, the Glenn County Sheriff’s Posse and the Orland Volunteer Fire Department among others.