Traditional festivities / ethnography: The festivity in honour of Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres takes place annually on the fifth Sunday after Eastern, and constitutes the greatest religious celebration, not even for the inhabitants of S. Miguel, but also to all people of the Archipelago. The image of Senhor Santos Cristo dos Milagres leave Convento da Esperança, a monastery where the image is kept and worshiped, on a procession through the streets of Ponta Delgada. This festival has also a secular part: a fair of economical activities, exhibitions, and the traditional food and drinks points of sale in the streets. Hundreds of people, emigrants, tourists and people from the islands visit Săo Miguel during this time.
From April to June, the festivities of Divino Espírito Santo are celebrated in all the Azorean parishes, and are the most traditional of the Azorean islands.
Another manifestation of the religiosity of the people is the Procession of Senhor dos Enfermos, which takes place in several places in the island in the first Sunday after Eastern. The procession that takes place in Furnas is very beautiful, passing through streets covered of carpets made of flowers.
During the summer months, processions and festivities in honour of the parishes’ patron-saints take place in almost all villa-places in the island.
The pilgrimage (romeiros) is a unique religious manifestation; groups of men cover the whole island walking, saying prayers, during an entire week.
Vila Franca do Campo village celebrates the festivity in honour of Săo Joăo in June 24th with marches and shows. In Ribeira Grande, in June 29th another festival takes place: the “Cavalhadas”; it is a parade of horsemen, colourfully dressed, that march through the streets to Săo Pedro Church, where they greet in verse the patron saint. Then, the parade follows to the Municipal Hall Square, right beside Espírito Santo Church (also known as Senhor dos Passos ou Misericórdia) and the Municipal Garden, where a embassy pay courtesy to the municipal authorities; the parade rounds three times the Garden (in front of the Church) asking for God Protection and the living presence of the Holy Spirit through faith. Follows a circle around Mother Church and Santo André Chapel, the brother of Saint Peter, and the parade continues through all streets of the city’s parishes. The procession ends at Mafoma Palace.
Using the raw material offered by nature, the handicraft of the island is very rich and diversified: dolls dressed in typical clothing made of maize leaf, sword grass, sackcloth or cloth; flowers made of fish scale, pieces of bone and whale tooth; wicker-work, blankets, quilts and carpets manually weaved; the blue hand painted pottery of Vila Franca do Campo and Lagoa; and the panels of Ribeira Grande, which are hand painted over raw glaze.
The richness of the folklore is present in the typical clothing, colourful in women and sober on men, in the dances and also in the typical songs. The folklore groups have been developing an excellent research on old traditional songs; they were able to reproduce in rigor the clothes, music and dances from former times.
In some places, the festivities in honour of Espirito Santo include “foliőes”, men wearing red mantles (opas), which animate the parades with their songs.