'Today we're all Cape Verdean': Annual festival draws thousands

Aug 14, 2016

Whiffs of gufong, jag and the sounds of creole-influenced African music filled the air on Saturday as nearly 20,000 people arrived for the annual Onset Cape Verdean Festival.

For Wareham native Tiny Lopes, who took over the festival 14 years ago with two others, the heart of the festival is about reconnecting with loved ones. The festival itself has been held for the past 49 years.

“This is a family reunion,” said Lopes. “That's all it is. When we first started we asked local families to see if they could schedule their reunions around the festival.”

That first festival attracted approximately 3,000 people. Since then its become a larger affair, bringing in people from across the country and world.

People from California, Connecticut, Las Vegas, Canada and Dubai packed downtown Onset for the six-hour event.

All came to celebrate Cape Verde, an island nation located off Africa’s western coast.

Lopes noted that while Cape Verdean culture isn’t well known across the U.S., it has a significant presence on the South Coast.

“Our work ethic is second to none,” said Lopes. “The cranberry bogs were built on the backs of Cape Verdeans. And now there are Cape Verdean doctors, lawyers and legislators.”

To celebrate the culture, Cape Verdean influenced bands performed inside the Lillian Gregerman Bandshell.

A small crowd gathered in front to dance. Among the dancers was Doris Fernandes, who moved to Dubai, located in the United Arab Emirates, from Onset more three decades ago. She returned to see friends and family.

“I went to high school with these women,” she said, shouting above the music. “I haven’t seen them in 35 years!”

In addition to the live music, close to 90 vendors sold wares up and down Onset Avenue.

Author and professor Manuel De Luz Goncalves sold copies of his book, “Cape Verdean Creole-English Dictionary.”

Goncalves is originally from the Cape Verdean island of Fogo, but now lives in Boston.

Written over the last 10 years, Goncalves explained the book defines some 40,000 “Kriolu” words into English. While Portuguese is the official language of Cape Verde, most families learn Kriolu in the home.

Goncalves said when the island was first settled by the Portuguese, African slaves were brought over. A hybrid language developed between the cultures, eventually transforming into something else entirely – Kriolu.

Goncalves said he hopes that by bringing attention to the language it will continue to thrive.

Food, much like language, is something else that defines a culture. At the festival, vendors sold traditional dishes such as jag (a dish of beans and rice), gufong (similar to fried cornbread) and bacalhau (a codfish-based dish).

As the festival neared the end, Marian Rose, a member of the Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center Committee, thanked all for coming.

“Remember that no matter where you’re from, today, we’re all Cape Verdean,” she said.