What Portuguese-language ceremony did I accidentally witness?

May 28, 2023 5:22 PM

I took my daughter on a short hike, yesterday, to a kind of urban nature preserve, outside of Boston. At the summit, we came across a group of five people: a man and woman in their 30s, an older couple, and a woman speaking to the group loudly in Portuguese. At one point the younger man was on his hands and knees in the grass. The younger woman may have been pregnant?

Hope this doesn’t sound nosey, but it was just such an interesting situation to happen upon. Also they weren’t trying to hide themselves or anything — it’s a very public park. Just curious, and unfortunately don’t speak an iota of Portuguese!

posted by summerteeth to Human Relations (7 answers total)

Mod note: one deleted. Let’s answer OP’s questions instead of derailing the convo so early in the thread.
posted by travelingthyme (staff) at 7:15 PM on May 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I live on the other side of the US from you, but today the local Portuguese community celebrated FESTA DO ESPÍRITO SANTO. Could you have witnessed something related to that?
posted by ajayb at 8:15 PM on May 28, 2023

I know you said Portuguese, but it was just Shavuot, which has a grass element. So either maybe it was Hebrew you heard or it was Portuguese jews?
posted by Toddles at 9:02 PM on May 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Being in a natural site and (presumably) in a particularly beautiful spot, my first thought would be that they might have been scattering someone's ashes or having a small memorial ceremony for a lost loved one. The younger man might have been particularly overcome with grief or just wanted to express his sadness by going down to his hands and knees.
posted by fight or flight at 3:52 AM on May 29, 2023

Well, it was a major religious holiday, namely Pentecost. Possibly something related to the Holy Spirit.

My portuguese spouse confirms there is no obvious answer, not something mainstream. Many Boston area portuguese however descend from the Azores which has many of its own unique traditions.

Or it could have just been something personal.
posted by vacapinta at 6:19 AM on May 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Random thought - were they wearing white? Could it have been a Candomblé ceremony? I dunno. I'm guessing because it's a Brazilian religion and women can lead rituals in Candomblé.
posted by EllaEm at 10:10 AM on May 29, 2023

Possibly Santo Daime?
posted by umbú at 10:14 AM on May 30, 2023