Pentecost Festival Celebration
2009 Festival Queen Molly Zamora releases dove before the start of the Coronation Mass
View A Short Video Clip
_ 
View the past Queens...
|
|
|
|
Catherine BradshawOur 123rd Pentecost Festival celebration begins with the Presentation Ball in our parish center. The gala affair is an elegant dinner / dance where the parish center is transformed by the extravagant decorations. The theme for the 2009 Presentation Ball is entitled "Land of Enchantment ." The Festival Queen and her court of ladies are presented to the parish community during the dinner and dance.
The Novena to the Holy Spirit begins on Friday, May 22, 2009, at 7:00 pm and lasts for nine consecutive evenings. This year the theme will reflect on the Fruits of the Holy Spirit and how they are lived out in our parish community. A different speaker lay parishioner will give a reflection each evening. The Fruits of the Holy Spirit are the products from the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. A Mass is celebrated each evening.
On Sat & Sun, May 30th & 31st, 2009, the festival activities take place in our back parking lot. A variety of ethnic food booths, game booths for young and old, and on-stage entertainment invite parishioners to participate in games, enjoy the food and relax to a variety of stage performances.
The annual Festival parade begins on Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 10:00 am at the DMV. The parade processes about a mile and culminates in front of the Church, in-time for the 12:30 pm mass.
The Coronation Mass at 12:30 pm is the high point of the festival celebration, where our pastor, Fr. Mathew, places the royal scepter in the hands of the Festival Queen and place the silver crown over her head in a ceremonial coronation. Following the tradition of the past, the Queen will hand out small loaves of bread to the assembly.
The tradition of crowning a young girl dates back to the 13th century. When a famine broke out in Portugal, Queen Isabel prayed a novena to the Holy Spirit to save her people. Food came and many lives were saved. Queen Isabel began a yearly tradition on Pentecost Sunday of selecting a young girl to be queen for a day to celebrate the intersession of the Holy Spirit.
Many miracles are attributed to Queen Isabel, which lead to her sainthood. The most widely known legend is the transformation of bread to roses. Queen Isabel was caught by her husband, King Dinis, distributing bread to her poor people. When confronted by her angry King, the bread miraculously changed to roses and saved her from being killed.