Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections, 2015.196.61.2, Connecticut Historical S…

Images(3)

Program: Festival of Folklore, 2016

DistributorDistributed by Portuguese Club of Hartford founded 1927

Date2016

MediumPaper

ClassificationsInformation Artifacts

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

DescriptionProgram for the Festival of Folklore, held at the Portuguese Club of Hartford, 2016 and hosted by the resident dance group Rancho Folclórico do Clube Português de Hartford.

Object number2015.196.61.2

CopyrightIn Copyright

NotesSubject Note: Connecticut residents of Portuguese descent number close to 50,000; there is a Portuguese Consulate in Waterbury, signaling the importance of this ethnic group's presence throughout the state. Waterbury, Bridgeport, Hartford, Danbury and Stonington CT have sizeable Portuguese communities with different roots and cultural characters. Portuguese immigrants have come from mainland Portugal as well as the Azores and Madeira islands. Settling mainly in urban areas of Connecticut, they have established churches, shops, restaurants and bakeries, and social clubs. Many Hartford area Portuguese community members work in health care and hospitals, also construction. Immigrants from the Azores settled in coastal towns such as Stonington CT to pursue fishing and maritime occupations. Factories in inland cities such as Waterbury and Hartford attracted immigrants from rural areas of Portugal who sought available work. The population of entire towns in the northern farming and seafaring provinces of Minho, Tras-os-Montes, Douro and the Beiras came to settle here.

Cultural heritage is maintained strongly in Portuguese communities, seen in many festivals – often religious celebrations with processions – continuing throughout the state. Stonington holds a summer Blessing of the Fleet and Holy Ghost Festival in August, Waterbury celebrates Festa de Sao Joao in June, Naugatuck has the San Paio Festival over Labor Day, Danbury holds the Festa do Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres and other events, the Holy Ghost Society in East Hartford hosts a festival on its grounds, and Hartford organizes the Festa do Divino Espiritu Santo, the Festa do Sao Joao and the Day of Portugal, and St Martin’s Day in November (commemorating the crop of chestnuts), among other events. In addition to churches, social clubs in the cities are community centers of language, sports, newspapers, cultural activities, foodways and festivals. For instance, the Portuguese Club of Hartford was founded in 1927. In 2017 the Club suffered a devastating fire but has rebuilt the hall and its membership remains strong with a young population.

Several Portuguese dance groups exist, most based at Portuguese clubs or churches in different Connecticut cities such as Hartford, Waterbury, Danbury, and Bridgeport. The official dance troupe of Hartford's Club, Rancho Folclórico do Clube Português de Hartford, was formed originally in 1965 by immigrants eager to perform dances and music from their homeland; it is the oldest rancho in New England with a continued existence since 1972. The group is notable for the number of dancers and musicians who have been with the Rancho for decades, with marriages taking place and children coming into the group, forming family dance dynasties. Their repertoire of Portuguese songs covers north, south, and the Azores – reflecting the make-up of the Hartford community. The group includes many young musicians devoted to Portuguese culture. In 1976 the Rancho was invited to dance at the Smithsonian's Bicentennial celebrations, in 1985 they toured Portugal, performed at the Special Olympics in 1996 and the Lowell Folk festival in 1997. In addition to dancing at the Connecticut community festivals, the group participates in a network of Portuguese dance organizations who perform regularly across the East Coast. In 2019 the group was invited to Bermuda and Canada. The 50th Anniversary of the group was celebrated in 2022. The Rancho has hosted several visiting Portuguese dance groups from Canada and the U.S. during several Day of Folklore events that drew audiences of almost 500 each year.

Subject Note: Rancho Folclórico do Clube Português de Hartford was first formed in 1965 by Portuguese immigrants eager to preserve dances and music from their homeland. After a break when many dancers were serving in the armed forces during the Viet Nam War, the Rancho re-formed in 1972 and is the oldest continuously performing Portuguese dance group in New England. Based at the Portuguese Club in Newington, over fifty members of the Rancho ranging in age from 5 to over 60 come from families of dancers and musicians who have been with the group for decades. The Rancho’s repertoire of Portuguese songs – and the hand-made costumes – come from all the cultural regions of Portugal including the Azores, reflecting the make-up of the Hartford community.

Large Portuguese communities settled in coastal towns such as Stonington CT to pursue fishing occupations; many of these immigrants came from the Azores. Factories in inland cities such as Waterbury and Hartford attracted immigrants from rural areas of Portugal who sought work wherever they could find it. The population of entire towns in the northern farming and seafaring provinces of Minho, Tras-os-Montes, Douro and the Beiras came to settle here, so the Rancho's songs, dances, and costumes reflect these specific regional origins. More recently settlers have come from Ribatejo, bringing new songs and dances to the group's repertoire, which now includes the dynamic fandango from Ribetejo province near Lisbon and the fast-paced corridinho from the Algarve. In their home areas of northern and central Portugal, many of these farmers and laborers were singers and dancers in the regular festivals, church celebrations, and special events which were always marked with music and dance. In America too the connections to village and traditional practices remain fresh and solid despite the community's successful integration.

Rancho Folclórico is committed to authenticity in its performances, presenting the songs, dances, and costumes as they exist today in Portugal. The group has carefully researched and collected traditional costumes as well as dances. Over the years many instructors from the community knowledgeable in traditional music and dance have taught group members. Portugal has three main regions differing widely in geography, the occupations followed by people living there, and their traditions. Regional variations are reflected in the dances, which are very specific to each locality. The situation in America is more complex, as Portuguese communities are often comprised of immigrants from different regions. Northern dance formations start with male-female pairs dancing in circular rotation or in columns with the partners across from each other. Dancing with the arms raised, often holding castanets, is a distinguishing feature of Portuguese dance. The Rancho's repertoire includes the vira from the northern coastal province of Minho. Dance movements - vira means "to turn" - reflect the activities and occupations of the area. So the vira refers to movements arising from the fishing activities of Minho, while the chula and malhao from Tras-os-Montes suggest threshing, husking and preparing grain in that farming province.

Accompanying the dancers, the Rancho's musicians play accordions, violao (guitar), cavaquinho (the early form of ukelele), mandolin, hand-held frame drum, triangle, and reco reco (a long piece of serrated wood scraped with a stick). In the music of Ribatejo, a split bamboo stick called caninha ("little cane") keeps the beat instead of drums. Male and female vocalists sing festive songs, often about wine, romance and rural life. Malhao is a threshing song..." You'd be amazed how many people don't know what threshing is! The malhao is a dance done at the time of harvest in September. Watch for the movement of the men's feet - they show how people jump on the wheat to separate the grains in threshing!"

All costumes are handmade in Portugal. Some of the women wear the heavily beaded black velvet skirt, jacket, and gold filagree jewellry worn by brides (and later on other occasions throughout their lives) in Portugal. These outfits, made in the town of Viana do Castelo in Minho, are rare and valuable because only a few seamstresses remain who can sew the intricate beadwork. Other dancers in the Hartford Rancho wear the colorful embroidered wool skirts, vests and aprons seen in northern Portugal on feast days and festivals. the brightly colored vests and embroidered skirts worn by village women on festive occasions. The color, style, and width of the embroidered hems vary from parish to parish in the north, identifying the dancer by her village. The subtle differences in color and width of the embroidery indicate which parish a woman is from. When performing dances from Ribatejo, Rancho women from that region wear the tightly pleated brown wool skirts, cotton blouses and short jackets which they have collected from their villages. Unusually for a Portuguese dance group in North America, the women wear xinelo, the embroidered clogs which stamp out the rhythm of the steps, an important percussive element of the music. The clogs are beautiful and serve a function, but they are notoriously difficult to keep on the feet so most groups have abandoned them. Most men in the group wear the black trousers, white shirts, long red sashes, and the beaded vests of northern farmers. When performing the fandango, the two male dancers wear the appropriate knee-length trousers and vest of a Ribatejo cattleherder, a contest of virility and agility between two men fighting for a woman's heart.

In addition to dancing at all the Portuguese festivals around Connecticut, Rancho Folclórico participates in a network of Portuguese dance organizations who perform all over the East Coast at festivals and celebrations held in Portuguese communities such as Boston, Chicopee, Ludlow, Fall River, New Bedford, Cranston, West Warwick, Elizabeth, Newark, Bridgeport, Waterbury, Danbury, New Haven and Cape Cod. The group was invited to dance at the Smithsonian's Bicentennial Celebration Festival in 1976, and in 1985 was invited by the Portuguese government to perform throughout Portugal on a two-week tour. They performed at the 1996 Special Olympics in New Haven and the 1997 Lowell Folklife Festival in Lowell, Mass. In 2019 the group was invited to Bermuda and Canada. The Rancho has hosted several visiting Portuguese dance groups from Canada and the U.S. during the Day of Folklore events that drew audiences of almost 500 each year. The 50th Anniversary of the group was celebrated in 2022.

Perhaps the Rancho's most remarkable feature is its historically intergenerational membership, creating a continuity within families and ensuring the passing on of the songs and dances brought with them from Portugal. Many members of the dance group have been participating for decades, marriages take place and children come into the group, forming family dance dynasties. Many of the original founders from 1972 and even some from the very first group in 1965 serve as officers, musicians and instructors now that they are too old (so they say!) for the energetic dances. The Rancho also includes many young musicians devoted to Portuguese culture.

Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this community and this event.

Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

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