Statewide County HI Archives News.....Portuguese in Hawai'i -- part 2. July 21, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 August 3, 2008, 7:17 pm Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands July 21, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 July 20, 2008. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture A study in time, of the Hawai'ian Islands Portuguese in Hawai'i - part 2. by Darlene E. Kelley ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Portuguese in Hawai'i Part 2.-- Life in Hawai'i was beneficial for the Portuguese immigrants. One social observer of the early 1900s wrote that the Portuguese from Madeira bore the marks of oppressive poverty, with small stature, slender build and skin darkened from field work. However, after a generation in the Islands, their children grew in stature, becoming taller and stronger. Homelife was run along the traditional Portuguese lines. A Madeiran-born woman who landed in Honolulu with er parents in 1884 recalled that her father was the boss at home, but gave his paychecks to his wife. Before departing in the morning, daughters would kiss the hands of her parents and thank them for their support. Respect for parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles was taught and practiced. Her own courtship to a shop clerk took ten years to cultimate into marriage. Writers also note that Hawai'ian Portuguese broke away from their traditional family lifestyle, molding the ways of Hawai'ian people, while those in San Francisco and Boston clung to the old ways somewhat in isolation. Many success stories began to take their place in mainstream society. M.A. Silva, a native of Madeira who arrived in Hawai'i in 1884 at sixteen, became owner/editor of a Portuguese immigrant newpaper a Hilo, and for several years worked for the Territorial Board of Immigration recruiting plantation workers in Portugal and Spain. Wohn Freitas Rapozo, born in the Azores in 1882, went to school in Hawai'i, worked some years on a sugar plantation, and as a cowboy, managed a hardware department, and finally set up his own general merchandise store on the island of Kaua'i, doubling at the same time as local postmaster. By the mid-1920s some 27,000 Portuguese lived in Hawai'i. Father Reginald Yzendoorn, in his history of the Catholic Mission in the Hawai'ian Islands, called the Portuguese, " by far the best immigrants who have ever been brought to these shores. They are moreover a prolife race, families with a dozen children by no means rare." By the 1960s most Portuguese and part- Portuguese had lost their ethnic distinctiveness and had settled mostly in Honolulu and Hilo. On Maui and the Big Island some were still working at sugar plantations and pineapple fields. They could still be heard spoken at Hanooka's on the Big Island, at Makawao and Kula in up-country Maui, and at Lihu'e and Kalaheo on Kaua'i, in areas where Portuguese farmed and ranched. Rancher Jack Ramos, of Honoka'a, has become the most famous and successful Portuguese cattleman in Hawai'i. One of the most famous descndants of Hawai'i's Portuguese was the fiery basball player and manager, Billy Martin. Today, the most visable remenant of the early days of Hawai'i's Portuguese is the annual Holy Ghost Festival called Fiestade Espirito Santo. This colorful social and religious event features a dress parade, singing and dancing. A crown of honor is placed on the head of a featured young girl or other chosen person, and special breads and soups are served. The festival has been transformed in th course of the centuries, and is traced back to Queen Isabel of Aragon, wife of Portugal's poet King Dom Diniz in the 13th century. Isabel lives in Portuguese tradition s the prototype of the pious and chartitable woman, and legends have been woven around her since her death in te 13th century. Isabel built a church, dedcated to the Holy Ghost, and when this divinely inspired work was completed, she instituted a tradition called " Coronation of the Emporer." Out of this tradition the festval is derived. During this festival, ties to Portugal are maintained through honoring the church and the rulers of old Portugal by giving food to the poor. For the Portuguese the festival has links to the times of healing during plagues and deadly volcanic eruptions that occurred hundreds of years ago. Perhaps the Portuguese contribution that is best known outside of Hawai'i is the 'ukulele and the Hawai'ian steel guitar. Though many think the 'ukulele is a native Hawai'ian instrument, the small guitar-like instrument is actually the product of Portuguese immigrants. Some Madeiran men in the 1870s played their six-stringed viola, five-stringed rajczo, and a four-stringed little guitar known as the braguinha, or machete in Madeira, and as a cavaquinho in the Azores and continental Portugal. Hawai'ians took a liking to the rajczo, which was easier to handle than the bass viola brought decades earlier to Hawai'i by whalers and missionaies. The instrument took on the nickname of " taro patch fiddle." However, the most popular instrument was the Madeiran braguinha, which became the 'ukulele. King Kalakaua liked its gentle sound, and popularized the instraument, starting a fad of sorts among the musicians of Hawai'i and leading to the development of a more modern Hula with a different beat. To capitalize on the newly popular instrument, three Madeirans, Augustos Dias, Jose de Espirito Santos, and Manuel Nunes, set up a shop in Honolulu. Two had been instrument makers at home in Funchal and their product sold well. becoming widely known as the 'ukulele or " jumping flea." for the fast movement of fretting fingers on the short neck of the wooden instrument. The 'ukulele became popular throughout the U.S. following a musical display at the Panama Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco in 1915. The Banjo was a deriviative of this instrument which was then popular in the U.S. The Hawai'ian steel guitar sound came about when a young student at the Kamehameha Schools, in Honolulu, strummed a Portuguese guitar with a pocket knife for special effect, producing the distinctive twangy sound. The Portuguese have added a special spice to life in Hawai'i and will hopefully continue to provid the energy, soul, and musiacal talent Hawai'i has for a prosperous future ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/portugue19nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/hifiles/ File size: 6.9 Kb