Mapping the Festivals of the Holy Spirit in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and in Quebec (Canada)

This paper constitutes a first attempt to bring together two parallel research studies on Holy Spirit Festivals in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and in Quebec (Canada). In southern Brazil, this celebration dates back to the eighteenth century and, in Quebec, to the 1970s. Our questioning was directed to the contours and specificities it assumed in these spaces. From its mapping, we make considerations about its entry into Rio Grande do Sul and Quebec, its characteristics, social and symbolic function. We realize that the latter are related to the construction and reconstruction of identities in the diaspora and the mediation between the world of men and the spiritual - that of the Holy Spirit. In the two research studies, the search for the identity and the authenticity of the festival comes to the fore, the latter being more marked in Brazil due to the greater distance in time and space relative to the original Azorean festival.