Portuguese Crowning Procession

Yesterday, I was caught off guard by the sound of a marching band. I ran to the window and saw something I’d never seen before: a procession with a marching band (that part I had seen before) with a series of couples and young women in elaborate gowns carrying crowns (that was new to me!).  Naturally, I grabbed my camera and hurried to get photos. I inquired what the occasion was, and got a brief explanation. In essence, it’s a tradition of our Portuguese-speaking community (from Portugal and the Azores, not Brazil), related to Pentecost, celebrated by the parish of Our Lady of Good Voyage.   I found a more detailed explanation here in an old article of the Gloucester daily Times.  [Update: a fellow GMG blogger gave a great explanation just before I posted this!] So, here are some photos, for those who, like me, have never seen it before!

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