AZOREANS IN THE NORTHERN PORTUGAL

The Azorean community living in the north of mainland Portugal is fully integrated into the society in which it lives.

The information provided by the Casa dos Açores do Norte about this community is related to its own associative universe, with more than three hundred members.

The largest percentage of members come from São Miguel, Terceira, Faial, and Pico, followed by the other islands. They work in the liberal professions or in the service sector, and most of them have university qualifications. A significant part of the Azorean community in the north is young students in higher education.

In 1976, a group of Azoreans met in Gondomar to discuss creating a House of the Azores in the north of Portugal. A House of the Azores had already existed in Lisbon since 1927 and another in Rio de Janeiro since 1952.

An installation committee, chaired by engineer Guido Rodrigues, was then set up, with its provisional headquarters in Rua Cândido dos Reis in Porto.

On March 6, 1980, the new association was formally constituted under the name “Casa dos Açores do Norte” (House of the Azores of the North) and declared itself to be “a regionalist, non-profit, apolitical, autonomous and independent association in relation to the state, religious organizations and political organizations and parties”. The House of the Azores of Hilmar, California, had already been formed in 1977, and the House of the Azores of Quebec, Canada, in 1978.

In November 1980, the House of the Azores of the North was inaugurated at the Gondomar Hunters’ Club in the presence of the President of the Regional Government, João Bosco Mota Amaral.

In September 1981, the Casa dos Açores do Norte began publishing its monthly bulletin, which would play a key role in disseminating and promoting its project throughout the 1980s.

The formation of the Grupo de Cantares da Casa dos Açores do Norte in 1985 and the Festa do Divino Espírito Santo, which it promoted in Porto from 1987 onwards, gave greater visibility to the activities carried out by the new association.

Also, in the 1980s, CAN participated with its own stand in various conferences, fairs, and workshops, representing the Azores in their different cultural, social, and economic expressions.

At the turn of the decade, the Casa dos Açores do Norte took on and implemented one of its main strategic missions, which still prevails today in an increasingly effective way. This mission consists of welcoming and accompanying Azorean patients who are displaced for treatment in hospitals in the city of Porto. To this end, the first cooperation agreement was signed with the League of Friends of Angra do Heroísmo Hospital.

CAN played an important role in the creation of the World Council of Houses of the Azores, which was formalized in 1997. In 1990, it promoted the organization of the Colloquium “What is a House of the Azores for?” at the Ateneu Comercial do Porto, with representatives from the Houses of the Azores of the Algarve, New England, and Quebec participating.

The history of its founding phase was completed on May 15, 1999, with the inauguration of its own headquarters in a ceremony presided over by the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, Carlos César. The facilities were blessed on May 19 by the Bishop of Angra, António de Sousa Braga.

During the first 44 years of its formal existence, the Casa dos Açores do Norte was successively presided over by Guido Orlando Freitas Rodrigues (1980), Ernesto Oliveira e Sousa (1982), Carolina de Jesus Costa Pinto (1984), Luís Alberto Pacheco Quental (1991), José Manuel Tavares Rebelo (1993), Ponciano Manuel Castanheira de Oliveira (2008) and Miguel Ornelas Pires Mota de Azevedo (2023).

After the House of the Azores of the North, based in the city of Porto, a House of the Azores of the Algarve was also established in 1993, based in the city of Faro, which is now inactive, and the House of the Azores of Madeira, based in the city of Funchal, since 2019.

To complete the Portuguese territory outside the Autonomous Region of the Azores, the House of the Azores of the Central Region, based in the city of Coimbra, was established in 2024, and the House of the Azores of the Southern Region, corresponding to the Algarve and Alentejo, is now being set up.

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José Andrade is the Regional Director for Communities of the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores

Based on an article from his book Azores in the World (2017)

Translated by Diniz Borges