Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute Collection

Levina Amaral Interview

Amaral, Levina

Amaral, Alyssa

ENG

Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute

4/9/2021

SCUAD_pbbi_00032

Alyssa Amaral: Hi my name is Alyssa Amaral, and I will be interviewing
my grandma, Levina Amaral. So, what is your full birth name?
Levina Amaral: My full birth name is Levina and Simões Amaral. Simões
being my maiden name and Amaral being my married name.
Alyssa Amaral: Were you named after anyone? And is there a story
behind your name?
Levina Amaral: Not really a story, but I was named after one of my
father's cousins. Her name was Levina, and my mother liked the name.
So, she named me Levina.
Alyssa Amaral: When were you born?
Levina Amaral: I was born September the 12, 1951.
Alyssa Amaral: And where were you born?
Levina Amaral: In Hanford, California.
Alyssa Amaral: What early memories do you have of a child in the
Portuguese American community or in Portugal?
Levina Amaral: Well, I was born here in California in Lemoore and
Lemoore at the time was a highly populated Portuguese community. And
so, most of my friends; a lot of relatives were all living in that
area. So, we had a lot of family time, um family gatherings for
birthday parties and the Portuguese celebrations of Festa [inaudible].
Alyssa Amaral: When did your family emigrate to the United States?
Levina Amaral: It was my grandfather on both sides that my mother's
mom and dad and my father's mom and dad came to the United States in
the late 1800s. My father was born in 1915 and he had older siblings.
So, it is estimated that my grandparents came over in 1989, 1800s,
late 1800s.
Alyssa Amaral: Why did your family leave the Azores?
Levina Amaral: For a better life. My grandfather was 18 years old. He
came by boat. My father's father. Came by boat, and he wanted a better
life here in the United States. He was a cattle drover. He crossed the
United States um on a cattle drive, and he ended up owning three
dairies throughout his lifetime as a Portuguese immigrant in those
days. Um that was a, a big deal.
Alyssa Amaral: Where did your family settle and why did they choose to
settle there?
Levina Amaral: My grandparents on my mother's side settled in I
believe it was Poplar, California, which is a part of Porterville,
going towards Porterville, California. They worked on a farm, um
raised their children there. My father's father came first, he was not

married yet at 18 years old. He went back to the Azores and married
his sweetheart at the age of 33 and she was 13. They, he settled in
um, and they were married for a number of years and had five children.
He settled in Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, that's where he started his
dairies. Um and he did cattle jobs throughout the state of California.
Alyssa Amaral: Did your parents, grandparents ever tell you what it
was like to adjust to a new life in this country?
Levina Amaral: Yes, my father tells stories, uh my father was born
here in California in the United States, and he tells stories about
going to school and not knowing the English language, even though he
was born here. His parents spoke mainly Portuguese and um he had a
difficult time because he thought that he could just get up from the
classroom and go to the restroom and then the teacher would get mad at
him, and he couldn't understand what she was saying. Um so it wasn't
very difficult for him. Uh my grandparents said that it was hard, but
yet in a sense they had, they could communicate with other Portuguese
families, who were able to assist them. The Portuguese community are
very connected and so when they, a new family would come from the
Azores over, they were not alone. Other neighbors and friends would
come over even if they didn't know them, but they knew that they were
newcomers, they would come over and bring them food and, and clothing
for their children and stuff and help them get on their feet to start
their new life. But it wasn't difficult because during the depression
it was very, very hard.
Alyssa Amaral: You are a member of the 1st, 2nd 3rd generation of your
family to be born in the United States. How important was it to your
parents that you be raised with a strong Portuguese identity?
Levina Amaral: I was, I am second generation here in the United States
and for my father and my mother, they were um very adamant that we do
not lose our culture, that we stay connected with our Portuguese
friends and the community and especially with our religious upbringing
as Catholics. Um they instilled in us the importance of um the Holy
Spirit in our lives, the blessed mother in our lives, God in our lives
and um the Portuguese community still keeps the tradition that was
from way back in the time of Queen Isabella of the importance of the
Holy Spirit and the celebrations, the festivals of the Holy Spirit
throughout California. There's many, many almost in every city where
there's a Portuguese community, there's Portuguese celebrations and
religious celebrations that the people connect with. So, that was
important to my parents that we stay connected in that way and that we
learn some of the Portuguese language as much as we could.
Alyssa Amaral: Yeah. How was this identity expressed, through
language, foods, traditions, festivals?

Levina Amaral: All of the above. It was expressed through language.
Many times, my parents would talk to each other and we as children
could not understand what they were. So, because we did not fully
understand the Portuguese language, we learned the Portuguese language
through our grandparents them speaking to us because our grandparents
did not speak English. Um and through my husband, when I met my
husband, I learned to speak more fluently in Portuguese.
Alyssa Amaral: What cultural traditions have you maintained and why
has it been important to you to maintain them?
Levina Amaral: My religious faith I've maintained. Um and I think
that's very important because um I feel that it was important in my
grand ancestors lives to maintain our religious connection with God,
so, I have maintained that. uh some of the other traditions is I like
to sit and listen to my husband play his Portuguese guitar and we many
years ago that's what he used to do with his family was sit and the
father and the mother would play the guitar and the kids would dance
and sing and, and listen. So, we still do that today. Um getting the
family together as much as possible even though these are busy times,
we like to cook and make our traditional meals and get the family
together. Wine making, I love it. We do wine making.
Alyssa Amaral: Have you been to the Azores? And what was that
experience like for you?
Levina Amaral: I have been to the Azores seven times. It was a bit
surreal and a bit nostalgic to be in the land where my grandparents
came from and to visit my grandmother's house that she left so many
years ago and it's still standing uh to visit with second cousins that
I have in the island of Pico. That's my mother's first cousins that I
had never met before. And yet when I entered one of the cousins homes,
she took me to this room where she had a round table with a
tablecloth. And on that table was my picture, my mother and father's
picture and all of my siblings. And when they got married, they had
wedding pictures of us there. My mother would correspond with her and
send her. So, we had that connection. In the island of Faial when I
went, it was a very different experience. It was so wonderful because
I met my husband’s family for the first time. I felt like I had
already known them through pictures and correspondence, and they
accepted me and our children with open arms and the people there are
very giving and very loving and it was just a wonderful, wonderful
experience. We still, we still go back. We've been there seven times.
Last time we were there was in 2019 before um coronavirus hit. And um,
were we just, we were there for three months at a time and uh that
year and were there for three months and we just really enjoyed
connecting with family and visiting with family and going to the
church celebrations and things of that nature, dancing the chamarrita.

Alyssa Amaral: So, trace if you will some of your experiences growing
up in the Portuguese American community in the valley throughout your
life.
Levina Amaral: Well, growing up in the Portuguese community in the
valley, I would like I said was born in 1951. So, things in, in those
years, were still more antiquated than they are today for youngsters.
Um, most of my friends, um were hard workers, they had to go out and
help not only on the dairy like I did, helped on my father Joao’s
dairy. My father was a dairy farmer, and my job was to go out and feed
the calves and help my brothers milk the cows, wash the barn. So, a
lot of that we did as a family and um then we would go out to the
festivals and do a lot of dancing. That was, I loved to dance and so
we would go to the dances and what would happen would be when there
was a festival for the Holy Spirit, you would have your mass on the
Sunday and the procession, the parade of the queens from all over
California would come and then you would have to go in around
lunchtime after the mass, you'd walk back to the hall and you'd sit
down and you need your traditional meal, sopas. And uh at night there
was always a dance and that's where you could meet all the young men
and the young boys that would come up and ask you to dance and, and
that's where I met my husband also. So that’s, that's one of the
special times of my life.
Alyssa Amaral: Of all you have accomplished, what are you most proud
of? What proud moments do you remember in the Portuguese American
community?
Levina Amaral: I think what I'm most proud of is being able to meet my
husband, a man who came from the Azores, so many miles away. I never
knew him. And then when we met was in Riverdale in the year 1964. I'm
sorry, 1966. I met my husband at a Portuguese celebration Portuguese
festival dance in Riverdale and um that's one of the most uh the
proudest things that I uh feel of my Portuguese culture was that I was
able to meet this Portuguese man who had just come to this country two
months before I met him and we were able to connect, fall in love, get
married and have our beautiful children. That's what I'm most proud
of.
Alyssa Amaral: To what extent do you believe being Portuguese American
has shaped you the way you have moved through life, both
professionally and personally?
Levina Amaral: Well, personally um my Portuguese heritage has taught
me a lot about patience, determination, hard work, um love. Portuguese
people are very loving and giving and in my professional, uh my
religion and in my pro, professionalism, it's taught me the value of
hard work. Many Portuguese people came over to this country like my
grandfather with nothing, he had no money in his pocket, and he
started working in the cowboy and Indian days way back in the late mid

to late 1800s and it was through his determination and his hard work
that he was able to obtain three dairies throughout his lifetime. So,
um and that hard work and determination is trickled down. That's one
of the values my parents taught me was hard work and determination.
You can accomplish anything in life.
Alyssa Amaral: What does being Portuguese American mean to you?
Levina Amaral: My heritage means everything to me. It means that I
have roots, it means that I can go back and visit a place that I never
even knew. Um some of the people when I was born, I never knew any of
those people and my grandparents came over and they always kept a link
through letters and in those days when my grandparents came, it took
2-3 months for a letter to go from the United States and reach the
Azores. So, sometimes by the time that letter reached the Azores
someone in the family had passed away and so by the time that they
notified, so there's a big gap there. And so, it means so much that
that connection stayed strong throughout all these years and that we
were able to, to revisit that now, you know.
Alyssa Amaral: How do you see the Portuguese American community today?
Levina Amaral: I'm hoping, I see that they're still um it's still
going very strong, and people are still linked their culture through
folklore dancing through uh children who are able to go to Portuguese
class and learn the language. Um and I'm hoping that that still stays
strong throughout the future generations. I feel though that that
certain groups, Portuguese meeting groups that we used to have are
getting full of old people and not young people and we need the young
people to keep the culture alive. So, I'm hoping that all the young
people can start taking an interest in their Port, Portuguese culture
uh investigate and join groups, keep folklore and religion and, and
the other Portuguese groups alive.
Alyssa Amaral: Well, thank you for letting me interview you today and
is there anything else that you'd like to share that we haven't
covered yet?
Levina Amaral: At this time, I, I don't think so. Um, I think that,
that was it.
Alyssa Amaral: Well, thank you so much.
Levina Amaral: Thank you.