When Portuguese-Americans Nelson Ponta-Garça and Danny Abreu were working on a project about the Portuguese presence in Hawaii, they had an ongoing bet between them: How many people you asked the gutter would have Portuguese ancestry? “Almost one in two had a Portuguese rib,” Nelson Ponta-Garça told DN. “From the singer in the restaurant to the person who drives the shuttle to the bartender or restaurant owner. More than half had a Portuguese rib,” he recalls. “I think it’s something fantastic.”
The director and producer worked for years on this project, which started as a documentary and has now been turned into a book. Portuguese in Hawaii: The History of Generations documents the long history of Portuguese emigration to this archipelago, which started in 1878 mainly from Madeira and the Azores.
“It’s a fascinating story of emigration,” describes Nelson Ponta-Garça, who included more than 50 stories and interviews in the book with people from the four main islands where the Portuguese live, Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.
“More than those who made it to mayors of Maui or Kauai or entrepreneurs who dominate their area, I would like to highlight the stories that people still remember the journey of their parents, their grandparents, great-grandparents,” explains Ponta-Heron. “Four, five, six month journeys by boat, half of the people who came on the journey died and with children born on board.”
According to the Library of Congress, the first record of a Portuguese emigrant in the islands dates back to 1814; his name was João (John) Elliott de Castro and he worked as a physician for King Kamehameha.
But most of the Portuguese who went to Hawaii went to work on sugar cane plantations, arriving between 1878 and 1913 in an archipelago that was still an independent nation.
“All this epic is one of the reasons why I wanted to write this book, leave this record behind and so that these stories are not forgotten,” says Ponta-Garça.
The risk of being forgotten is always real in emigrant communities, but even more so in a geographically isolated region where communities have not maintained strong ties to their language and country of origin.
“One of the things I usually say, without panic, is that if we go to Hawaii, we’ll see what the Portuguese community in California will be like in 30 or 40 years,” Nelson Ponta-Garça points out. “We mainly found people whose grandparents and most of their great-grandparents were from Portugal, people who have an affinity but not all of them are sure where they come from,” he says. “Many don’t even know where they came from. They never came back.”
It is estimated that approximately 10% of Hawaii’s population, totaling 1.442 million people, is of Portuguese descent. There has been work targeting the Luso-Hawaiian community in the past, but not recently. According to Ponta-Garça, there had not been an updated publication featuring local players in this format for a hundred years. And this also reflects the weakening of ties with Portuguese identity.
“What’s different is that it’s a much older community and, deep down, is a mirror of whatever the community in California and New England will be”, says the author. “While Hawaii is much more isolated geographically and has other restrictions, I think what happened there will happen in other communities. It almost travels into the future.”
Ponta-Garça knows these realities well because it has been documenting communities for over a decade and has created the Portuguese In series. Work began with the documentary Portuguese in California, in 2014, followed by the publication of a book of the same title. As the state with the highest concentration of people of Portuguese descent, at nearly 350,000, California has communities that retain strong ties to their Portuguese identity.
Portuguese in New England followed in 2016, focusing on the whaling industry and ten generations of Portuguese in this eastern region of the United States, where the bond of identity is strong.
But in Hawaii, the distance and seniority of emigration weakened ties.
“You see a community almost at the end of its path,” says the author, aware of the importance his work can have. “I think both the documentary and the book brought some momentum here. We held events on different islands and tried to mobilize and meet the most interesting organizations.”
The book launch events on various islands have always been attended by the Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco, Pedro Pinto, who has continuously promoted the community in the United States.
On Oahu, the presentation took place at City Hall, which has a long history with Portuguese mayors and councilors, hosted by Honorary Consul Tyler dos Santos-Tam, who is also of Portuguese descent.
On other islands, the events took place in portuguese chambers of commerce, historical centers, cafes and physical locations linked to gastronomy and the ukulele, the musical instrument based on the cavaquinho.
a tour with the consul’s presence “ultimately it has had an impact on stimulating the community, motivating them to stay connected and making them aware of Portugal and its roots,” Ponta-Garça believes. This was important because “everything is sleeping,” he says. “Even the community organizations with senior leaders who have made great contributions but are already tired and some even discouraged by the life of volunteerism and what it entails.”
hints of Portugueseness
At McDonald’s Hawaiian restaurants, there’s an exclusive item on the menu that hints at the Portuguese influence on the archipelago’s cuisine: Portuguese sausages. Honululu’s Bakery always has lines out the door with customers wanting to pick up malassadas, described as “Portuguese doughnuts.” There are local politicians with surnames like Cravalho, Victorino and Tavares.
In Oahu, Nelson Ponta-Garca claims to have witnessed “the shortest and fastest procession of the Holy Spirit in the world” near the famous beach of Waikiki. The Processions of the Holy Ghost are an indelible mark of the community in the United States, attracting thousands of Portuguese-Americans in a demonstration that is as much about faith as it is about Portugal.
There are streets with well-known names, such as “Machado”, “Lusitana” and “Madeira”, and those who go up reach the Punchbowl area, where, in addition to a large Portuguese community, there is also a chapel, the Punchbowl Holy Spirit. It is the only physical place on the island of Oahu where there is a Portuguese space and where the Festa is celebrated, which they call “Dominga”.
On the Big Island, which once had 50% of the population of Portuguese descent, there is more evidence of Portuguese emigration. The historic center showcases the history of sugarcane, where the Portuguese were relevant, and the chamber of commerce has a project to make one of the largest Portuguese community centers in America, featuring everything from music, dance, and the Portuguese language. This cultural aspect is important, says Ponta-Garça. “Hawaiians are well aware that the ukulele is a Portuguese instrument, brought by the Portuguese who taught the king to play.”
signs of hope
The dilution of Portuguese communities in Hawaii contrasts with signs of hope and rapprochement that have become more visible in recent years. The documentary and book helped mobilize associations and there is a renewed appeal in Portugal, whose profile in the United States has reached an all-time high.
“A lot of positive things are happening and there is a bit more connection,” the author emphasizes.
“I know a lot of people who have never been to Portugal or went many years ago and who came in the meantime,” he continues. “Many of the people who said in the interviews that they would come are doing it this year or next year.”
Not only are more visits and trips planned as a collaborative project, work is underway to establish several sister cities between Hawaii and Madeira and the Azores. “There is also a connection between Nazaré and Hawaii due to the release of the two largest waves.”
This kind of private initiative is essential because there are rarely any official events and connections that intersect with Hawaii. While in California in September 2022, President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa received a ukulele from Honorary Consul Tyler dos Santos-Tam and expressed a desire to visit a community that is “very old, very old, is one of the “oldest and most resistant living in isolation there, more so at the end of the world.”
But justifying the trip is complicated, the president admitted, especially at a time of economic contraction.
Nelson Ponta-Garça alluded to this. “Politically, it is difficult for a secretary of state, a president of the regional government, a minister or even the president of the republic to justify a trip to Hawaii,” he says. “There’s the general population’s perspective that it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he continues, to go to a paradise-like place with picture-postcard beaches. “It becomes difficult to justify these trips and what happens is that there is rarely a political or exchange presence,” the author points out. “There are few or none.” That is why the book tour with consul Pedro Pinto and the agreements for the sister cities are so important right now.
Nevertheless, the documentary can be viewed on the PortugueseIn.com website and the book can be purchased by anyone in the United States. It is also available in some libraries of institutions in Portugal, such as the Presidency of the Republic, and was handed over to secretaries of state and ministers. “There is still a record of this community,” points out Ponta-Garça. In memory of future generations, even if they never learn Portuguese again.
Source: DN
