Show Looks at Local Heritage of Portuguese

About 150 people attended the opening of a photo exhibit on Friday featuring the history of Ventura County’s Portuguese community at the county’s Museum of History and Art in Ventura.

Descendants of Portuguese immigrants who once lived in the county came from across the state for the opening of the show, which will run through May 8. The exhibit drew members of the local Portuguese community as well.

Evelyn Miller, 73, of Oxnard, gazed at the series of pictures of herself being crowned queen of a Portuguese festival in the 1930s.

“It is great to go back in time,” Miller said Friday. “I still remember many of those festas (celebrations). But there are times that I was there, and I know I was there, but I can’t remember.”

The exhibit is the first in a series of shows featuring ethnic groups that the museum plans to put on once a year.

“There were many ethnic immigrants who came to Ventura County, and we don’t know much about them,” said Tim Schiffer, the museum curator in charge of the exhibit. “We hope to keep their history somewhat alive.”

Although many of the early Portuguese immigrants in Ventura County have either moved away or assimilated into the mainstream culture, the 1990 U. S. census reports that 1,130 county residents are of Portuguese ancestry and 216 still speak Portuguese at home.

The exhibit features photos of Portuguese immigrants in Ventura County, dating back to the late 1800s. Some of the photos are of the Portuguese Holy Ghost festival, held annually in the county from 1924 to 1964.

Also on display is a crown used to decorate the queen of the festival.

The Holy Ghost festival was born out of a tradition established by Portugal’s Queen Isabel, who on Pentecost Sunday in 1296 was said to have placed the crown on the head of the poorest man in town and treated him like a king.

In addition to the exhibit, the museum plans a Portuguese celebration for April 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. The celebration will feature Portuguese music and dance.