Madeiran Feast of the Blessed Sacrament

ums-1937-07-15-0-004 sums-1958-07-30-0-005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting August 1st, 2013 New Bedford will once again host the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, also known as the Madeiran Feast or Portuguese Feast.

Founded in 1915 by four immigrants from the Portuguese island of Madeira, the festival aimed to recreate the religious festivals that were common to their native villages and to celebrate their safe passage to the United States.  The event has grown over the years, and claims to now be “the Largest Portuguese Feast in the World and the largest ethnic festival in New England. The Feast attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the globe.”

The Feast is planned and organized by members of the Club Madeirense S.S. Sacramento, Inc. and there are long established traditions and rituals that established who is able to be a ‘festeiro’ (member of the organizing committee.

The event aims to have something suitable for all members of the family, from a Kid’s Day Program, to the Museum of Madeiran Heritage, not forgetting the Santana House which serves the world-renowned Madeira wine or the savory goods found in the barracas, specifically the well-known espetada (bbq’d beef).

For more information and the complete program for the 2013 Feast, please check out http://portuguesefeast.com/

The newspaper pages above are from the Diario de Noticias, July 15, 1937 and July 30, 1958.  To search more newspapers, follow this link to our Portuguese American Digital Newspaper Collections at:

http://lib.umassd.edu/archives/paa/portuguese-american-digital-newspaper-collections

 

This entry was posted in Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, UMass Dartmouth Archives and Special Collection, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

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