Ajuda da Bretanha is a northern civil parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada is a city and municipality on the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. It includes 44,403 residents in the urban area, and approximately 20,113 inhabitants in the three central parishes that comprise the historical city: São Pedro,...

, on the island of São Miguel

São Miguel Island

São Miguel Island , nicknamed "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of these people located in the largest city in the archipelago: Ponta Delgada.-History:In 1427, São Miguel...

 in the Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

. It is a relatively new parish, being elevated to this status when the former parish of Bretanha was divided, forming: Ajuda and Pilar. The population in Ajuda was 1334 (in 2001), in area covering 7.1 km² (187.89 inhabitants per km²) in the northernmost parish in Ponta Delgada.

History

There still exists some controversy relative to the origin of Bretanha in the local lexicon. The parish received its name from the original Bretanha of the older parish, and in accordance with popular tradition, it was adopted by the local Portuguese colonists to refer to the original settlers of the area. It is assumed that the area was originally inhabited between the end of the 15th Century and/or the beginning of the 16th Century. During this period the concentration of colonists from Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, or Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

, may have led to the local designation. Even today, the area that was the parish of Bretanha is populated by people whose ethnicity are mistaken for British nationals (skin, eye or hair colors primarily), and where the local dialect is punctuated by diction and intonations reminiscent of French. When the area of Ajuda was de-annexed to form the current administration the current name was adopted; a compound phrase which means: Ajuda from [the parish formerly known as] Bretanha.

The parochial church is dedicated to the invocation of Nossa Senhora da Ajuda, and referenced in Gaspar Frutuoso

Gaspar Frutuoso

Gaspar Frutuoso was a Portuguese priest, historian and humanist from the island of São Miguel, in the Azores...

's Saudades da Terra. Constructed at the end of the 18th Century (1770 specifically), it was constructed on the site of an older church constructed of straw, two centuries before. It is a church designed in the typical Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

-style of the older generations, that includes a symmetrical front-facade, and bell tower; its interior consists of an ample sacristy, with a baptismal fountain constructed of pumice. A ancient image of Nossa Senhora da Ajuda, holding the Christ Child, has survived many years, and is sheltered in this church.

Geography

The parish borders the crater of Sete Cidades to the south and Atlantic Ocean to the north, falls between Mosteiros

Mosteiros

Mosteiros, Portuguese for monasteries, and also referred to, as:=*Mosteiros, a civil parish in the municipality of ArronchesIn the archipelago of the Azores:...

 and Pilar da Bretanha

Pilar da Bretanha

Pilar da Bretanha is a civil parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores. It only became an independent parish recently; on July 10, 2002, it was broken-off from the civil parish of Bretanha along with Ajuda da Bretanha.-History:In a description by...

; coastal cliffs dominate the ocean border, while sloping towards the crater (an area that includes mostly forested tracts and pasturelands).

Festivities

During the month of August, Ajuda celebrates the feast of Nossa Senhora dos Anjos, with its principal religious ceremonies on August 15. From the parochial church, apart from celebrating masses in Her honor, a typical religious procession winds through the roads in the parish, accompanied by the traditional philharmonic bands.

In addition, the tradition festivals from the Divine Holy Spirit are celebrated annually from the beginning of May to the end of June in the traditional impérios of the parish.

At the beginning of the year, the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great is also celebrated on January 17.