This Pentecost weekend, Catholics on the Hawaiian island of Maui will gather for the 133rd annual Holy Ghost Feast, continuing a Portuguese tradition honoring the Holy Spirit through prayer, fellowship, and shared meals.
The feast is traditionally celebrated on Pentecost, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles.
The celebration of “God’s Enduring Love” will take place at Holy Ghost Mission in Kula, where parishioners say the annual feast has long brought the community together in faith and thanksgiving, according to the Hawaii Catholic Herald.
Father Anton Nyo, pastor of Holy Ghost Mission, said the event strengthens the community.
“It’s small,” Father Nyo said, “but it’s very touching in a sense that you can see the unity of the people.”
According to Hawaii News Now, the origins of the Holy Ghost Feast tradition date back to the 13th century, when people on the Azores islands prayed to the Holy Spirit during a famine and received on Pentecost Sunday a ship carrying supplies, an answer to those prayers.
The Hawaii Catholic Herald explained that Portuguese immigrants to Maui in the 1800s brought this tradition and customs linked to Queen Isabel (St. Elizabeth of Portugal), including the annual “queen’s meal” rooted in serving meals to the poor.