The Government of the Azores will promote the organisation of the 6th International Congress on the Holy Spirit Feast in the city of Winnipeg, Canada, between June 11 and 15. This event provides another contribution to the preservation and dissemination of the profound manifestation of Azorean cultural identity.

The initiative of the Regional Under Secretary for External Relations, through the Regional Directorate for Communities, aims to promote and disseminate Holy Spirit Festivities as well as the study and debate on its history and evolution in the Azores and in the Azorean communities.

Organised in partnership with the House of the Azores of Winnipeg, the event will start Wednesday at 6 PM with the presentation of the book "É" by Célia Jachemet, a researcher from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and the performance of the Folk Dance Group of this House.

The opening session will take place at the Clarion Winnipeg Hotel on Thursday. The event will be attended by the Regional Director for Communities, Paulo Teves, the President of the House of the Azores of Winnipeg, João Melo, and the Honorary Council of Portugal in Winnipeg, Paulo Jorge Cabral.

The first panel of the conference will include the contributions on the history and experiences of Holy Spirit Festivities that will be provided by researchers and scholar from Brazil and Canada. It follows a lecture titled as "Holy Spirit - Persistence and Resistance of the 'Império'" to be delivered by Father Hélder Mendes, Vicar General of the Diocese of Angra do Heroísmo.

The tradition and the evolution of the cult of the Holy Spirit will be under discussion in the second panel, which will feature speakers from Terceira Island and Alenquer.

The third panel of the international congress will be held under the title "Holy Spirit: An Identity and Social Cohesion Factor" on June 13. It will address this theme from the standpoint of the unity and identity of the Azorean cultural legacy in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and New England, USA. In turn, the fourth and last panel will focus on the celebrations of this Azorean tradition in Canada; it will feature the participation of members of the House of the Azores of Quebec, Ontario and Winnipeg.

On June 14 and 15, the participants of the congress will also take in the Holy Spirit Festivities that will be organised by the House of the Azores of Winnipeg. The celebration of the festivities will include the traditional prayers of the rosary, "bodo de leite," the coronation mass and procession, as well as the performances of several music groups and artists from the Azorean community in this Canadian city.