A Day Of Cape Verdean Culture

HARWICH – The sixth annual Cape Verdean Festival was greeted with sunshine and a warm and friendly setting in Brooks Park Saturday. The annual event celebrates the culture, history and contributions of a diaspora that relocated to Southeastern Massachusetts in the mid-1800s, especially to Harwich, and has made major contributions to the community.

There is a wealth of history surrounding the contributions made by Cape Verdeans starting in the 1800s in Southeastern Massachusetts, especially in the fishing and cranberry industries. That history should not be lost, said Angelo Barbosa, director of the Pedro Pires Institute for Cape Verdean Studies at Bridgewater State University.

Barbosa was a guest speaker at the festival, and he encouraged the large gathering to take the initiative to delve into the history. Southeastern Massachusetts is home to the largest concentration of Cape Verdeans in the country.

Bridgewater State University has the only academic department fully dedicated to Cape Verdean culture and history in the world, according to Barbosa, but many people right here in Massachusetts do not know about it.

Barbosa was born on the island of Santiago, Cape Verde, and said he had the opportunity to study in Brazil and then return to Cape Verde. In the 1990s he came to the United States to further his education. As the director of the Pedro Pires Institute, he works to engage students and groups to connect with their past.

Bridgewater State University is a resource that promotes Cape Verdean culture and has academic programs about the homeland, he said. The university works with scholars in the United States and around the world and also works closely with the University of Cape Verde on programs to encourage the connection. He said music is an important element of the culture, and there is a Cape Verdean Museum of Music where people can find out about artists and composers from here and the homeland.

Select Board member Donald Howell gave a welcoming presentation to the Cape Verdean community, noting the town celebrates a long and storied relationship between Harwich and Cape Verde, in particular the islands of Brava and Fogo, beginning in the early 1800s when skilled sailors began to arrive along the southern shores of Massachusetts.

From that point the history of Harwich is one marked by family, culture, community, hard work, determination, commitment and great public service, Howell said of Cape Verdean contributions.

“So today as we mark the occasion with music, dance, food and celebration we also do so with a deep sense of renewed commitment and gratitude to those who have made Harwich what it is today and what it will become tomorrow and everyday of our future,” said Howell.

The Cape Verdean Committee honored two Monomoy Regional High School graduates with $1,000 scholarships. Preshis Julianna Gomes will be attending the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth this fall, and Jayden Daluze-Starks, who was represented at the festival by his father, Lance Starks, will be attending Emmanuel College.

The day was filled with the flavors of Cape Verde from food to music and dance, giving a greater appreciation of the culture of the archipelago located 350 miles into the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa.