More festa events!

I am proud to say that I have been at the events at our lovely neighborhood império for 4 days in the last week. :) I've already talked about the butchering and the fish soup night. On Sunday, a few of us attended mass at the church next to the império. Before we got there, we heard fireworks already exploding in the air, and when we got there we saw a band already lined up in the street. We followed behind a procession around the block - a few dozen people carried the silver crowns of the Espirito Santo (Holy Spirit) and were followed by the band. The entire affair was quite solemn, and then the crowns were carried into the church to begin mass. Mass was good, even though we didn't understand anything more than a few phrases. The little church was packed, and it was standing room only in the back! Then we went outside the church for the função (function), which was a big sit-down feast in the middle of the street. They had a first course of bread soup and cabbage, which was surprisingly good. The second course was plates piled high with all sorts of meat: beef, pork, chicken, blood, liver, pig feet, you name it, it was probably on that plate. It was a great family atmosphere as everyone just stuck in their forks and pulled out whatever they liked best.

Yesterday night (Monday), Chris and I went back to the império to witness their last festa event. Again, food was placed out on tables on the street, and this time it was wine, juice, and milk (including chocolate milk!) that came straight from cows. There was also an abundance of bread and sweet bread, as well as bits of pork - blood sausage, cooked pork fat, and some bacon-like pork. There was also traditional folk dancing, in costume, with guitars and singing for accompaniment. One of the guitars had 15 strings! After they danced for a while, they came down into the street and started inviting other people to dance with them. I got to participate in one dance! It was pretty simple to get the hang of (even though I couldn't understand the spoken instructions from the leader), and it was so much fun! I really enjoyed the night, and after going to so many things as part of the festa I feel like I understand it a little bit more. We've also gotten to know a lot of the volunteers who work at the império and made all these events happen - they work hard! I'm also excited because there are festas going on all around the island, so there's still much more to explore. Just follow the fireworks!

Fei Fei