Tisha Cardoza Interview
Item
Title
Tisha Cardoza Interview
Creator
Cardoza, Tisha
Contributor
Borges, Diniz
Language
ENG
Relation
Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute
Date
8/2/2021
Identifier
SCUAD_pbbi_00043
extracted text
Diniz Borges: What is your full birth name?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Tisha Marie Cardoza.
Diniz Borges: And were you named after anyone?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: My first name, Tisha, comes after a soap opera
star. I think it's Tisha Gerber or Garber or something like that, that
my mother fell in love with the name. My middle name Marie comes from
both of my great grandmothers. Um so both of my mother's grandmothers
were named Marie or Mary, a version thereof and that's my middle name.
Diniz Borges: And uh when, where were you born?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: I was born on October 28th, 1978, in Selma
California.
Diniz Borges: And when did your family uh more or less your ancestors
that immigrate from the Azores? About what time frame did they
immigrate from the Azores?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: So, I am Portuguese on my mother's side and um her
maternal side came over the earliest they came over in 1889 settled
here in Selma, uh bought a ranch, started growing grapes and we still
have the ranch today. On the Cardoza side, which is my mother's
paternal side. They came over in 1910. Um so all of their, my, my
grandfather and all of his siblings were born here for my grandmother
She was born here. Her father was born here because that's the Silva
side that came over, like I said in 1890. So, I'm far removed from the
Azores on both sides a little bit.
Diniz Borges: Do you know which islands they came from?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: They all came from Pico, all came from around
Silveira, the Lajes area. Yeah.
Diniz Borges: And, uh, do they ever talk about, uh, and your
grandparents, uh, why their parents left the Azores? Why they left the
major reasons?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: My, uh, grandmother, her grandfather that came
over on the Silva side, better opportunities. Um, he came he made his
settlement, he found the fields, he did his farming and before he left
the Azores, he had some friends who had eight-year-old daughter or
something like that at the time and he goes, I'm gonna come back when
I make my, when I have a place to bring her, I'm gonna come back and
marry her and that's what he did. He went back, they married and
brought her over and they did their, they had all of their four
children here. So quite an age gap between my great, great
grandparents on that side and they, they always were farmers. So it
was just a better opportunity. Um, on the Cardoza side, my great
grandma there, uh, she was a Bettencourt. She came over with her
parents, they came over through Ellis Island and all of that and it
was the same thing just looking for better opportunities. My great
grandfather, Cardoza, it was during the war, and it was a way not to
have to go away to Angola or wherever I think is where it was at the
time. So, he came over probably the latest of all of them and it was
to avoid having to be shipped off. He decided to come here because his
brothers were here. He was one of 20 so a few of them had already made
their way. So, he just decided to make his way as well.
Diniz Borges: It’s your grandmother and your grandparents that you
mostly had contact with, did they ever talk about their parents or
their grandparents? Uh making any references to how it was to adapt to
the new country?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Yes. Uh obviously the language barrier, you know,
they only spoke Portuguese and uh my great grandma Mary J Silva, uh
her maiden name was Xavier. Uh when she came over, they pinned the
paper to her shirt saying deliver me basically to Selma, California.
And so, by the grace of God, really, she found her way to Selma. And
it was because um because of that and as well as with both of my
grandparents only speaking Portuguese in the home and then going to
school, they had such a hard time transitioning that they made
unfortunately, but I understand why they made the decision not to
teach their children Portuguese. They felt they were helping them out
by making sure they only spoke English at home. So, they didn't have
to go through the trials and the tribulations of adjusting when they
went off to school. So, I find that a disadvantage, you know, and I
was raised by my grandma and even though I was a little more removed
you know, I learned words here and there but she never had, um I don't
know, I don't wanna say it wasn't a desire but it was just, she didn't
see the need for me to learn Portuguese because I was in America. I
was basically going to live in America, and I didn't really need to
know any, any Portuguese. Plus, I think she liked the fact that she
could talk to her cousins about me or about stuff and I had no clue
what they were saying. So, I think that's the real reason.
Diniz Borges: How important do you feel was for, as you said, you were
raised by your grandma and lots of connections with her? Of course,
how important to her was it that she would be raised? Although not uh
learning Portuguese but with the Portuguese culture?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: That was very strong? Um I was raised because I
was raised by my grandma and back as a child, you know, there was, I
think roughly seven Portuguese fraternal organizations at the time. We
belonged to every single one and I was down in this hall at least
twice every week for one of their meetings, as well as, as far as when
it came to the hall I had to come down and work. I had to volunteer,
you know, depending on my age level, whether it was, I'm just taking
out trash or I'm serving plates or I'm helping stir something. She was
down here working. I had to be down here working. So, the festa became
really important, you know, had to do the little queen thing, the big
queen thing, side maids, flower girls. Um I think as soon as I could
walk, she had pictures of me being at least a flower girl. And then
I’ve served here as little queen. I’ve served here as senior queen and
then um eventually I became the President uh a ways back. But um the
Portuguese culture was always uh endeared to her and that was
something she did want to make sure. And I think she was somewhat
disappointed that her children kind of didn't really show the
enthusiasm that she did. They were there to support her. She was a
Grand President of the Brotherhood of Saint Anthony. They went to her
convention; they helped her fundraise; they did those types of things.
But as far as actually ever taking an interest and doing things, even
at a council level, my mother was the only one that really took, um
took the interest, you know, for example, not anymore, but when the
hall burned and it needed a new roof, my mother actually reroofed this
hall and she served, you know, ran the bar, did the sodas, which oddly
enough are my same jobs now. I run the bar and I do the sodas at the
festa, but she was always down here working any time they needed to
work. So, uh, my grandma had six children and she was the only one
that really took an interest in the, the fraternal aspect, which was
the tie to the culture, especially here because we're a small
community. So, we don't have a lot of, we don't have a Portuguese
soccer club. We don't have, you know we only have our one festa here.
We don't have bakeries, restaurants or anything. It really just came
down to the fraternal organizations that luckily found their way to
Selma one way or another hundreds of years ago or over 100 years ago.
All of them, I think now and then eventually formed the hall and
brought the small group that was together, small group that was here
in Selma together.
Diniz Borges: So, so would you say that these uh, uh her insistence uh
by, by her involvement uh grew within you throughout the years? Uh and
as you became older, uh what's what drives you to stay in touch with
your roots?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: So, yes, um all of my involvement stems from her.
Um as a child, I was not as appreciative as I will tell you. I have
grown now that I'm in my forties, early forties that is. But, um,
yeah, it was just, you know, coming to those meetings at the hall for
whatever organization it was, was not fun. But I enjoyed the bigger
things like the visits and seeing, um, seeing relatives, seeing
fraternal family, you know, because you do build those bonds. You
know, it took me until probably fourth or fifth grade to realize that
all these people she had me calling aunt and uncle were really
cousins. And I was just so confused when you have that fifth-grade
family tree project. And I was like, how's Aunt Mary? She was, well,
she's not your aunt, she's your cousin, but you need to call her aunts
and I was just so confused. And then just the friends that she had
developed that were introduced as family. So that Portuguese
fraternalism turned into a big broader family, which in my later
years, luckily because I kept into it um especially with SPRSI. Um I
had to move away for work sent me to San Mateo for two years, a past
Grand President Caroline Silva took me in what was supposed to be
short term. I lived there with her for two years, but if I wouldn't
have had those connections through the Portuguese culture and then the
fraternal organizations, which is how I expressed my Portuguese
culture, I would have been thrown into a city for the first time ever
leaving Selma and not known anybody, but it was such an easy
transition for me. And um I remember going to work and people, there
were lots of us that were um repositioned for lack of a better word
and everybody was struggling, and I was completely fine, because I had
a fraternal family, an extension of my family. So, it was no different
than being at grandma's house you know, and it was, it was great. It
was a great experience, but had I not, had my grandma not pushed me to
be in the fraternal organizations. I would have never met these people
and would not have ever had a family that goes well beyond my
bloodline, so to speak.
Diniz Borges: Let's talk a little bit about the hall. So, the Selma uh
Portuguese hall, tell us a little bit about uh the initials, what it
means and uh a little bit of the history that you know, and I know you
know quite well about, about the Selma Portuguese Hall.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Uh SPAA stands for Selma Portuguese Azorean
Association. It started around 1907 as a IDS council. So, it was
originally an IDS hall up until the eighties. So, I don't know much of
if the hall, well I know it changed names. So, I don't know if it's
just IDS Council 76 hall up till then. But it started as the IDS hall.
Their thing was, uh, their devotion is to the Holy Spirit. So, they
started having the festas. So, our festa history, our books as SPAA go
back to, I believe it’s ‘84, ‘85. And before that, it's IDS, which is
now PFSA. So, I know what happened is the hall had a fire and it
burned and when they were, the IDS council was looking for funds and
ways to, you know how they were gonna rebuild, et cetera. There was a
smaller group within there that was like, why can't we do this on our
own? It's basically the story uh I've been told through the years and
so they just kind of broke away from IDS and that's when they formed
uh the SPAA, so I'm not sure how they came up with the name other than
they were all from the Azores. Um all of the families I think mostly
come from, from Pico. Um my uncle Louie uh was part of that. My
grandma was part of that there in the eighties, uh when they all
decided to break free. Um so what they decided to do was they would
take over the hall, but IDS carried the loan for them, and I remember
going to those meetings where it's like okay, loan payments due, we
need to make money. And um so it was a big push on, not just the
festa, the festa was not meant to be a fundraiser here. It was meant
to give back to the community and truly keep with the spirit of Saint
Isabel, which is important to all of us. Myself in particular, but my
family, because that's where I get it from, was important to make sure
that Saint Isabel was recognized here. And the was put on for the
community. So, they paid the mortgage more from the fundraisers, the
New Year's Eve Dance, the wine tasting. I remember them doing
breakfasts, all things I had to work at as a kid and that's how they
knew it was like a balloon payment kind of mortgage so, they had till
the end of the year to save all their money and make that payment. And
I remember being at the meeting when they were all here and they
signed that last check and they were just so excited that they had
finally made it, you know, and that was roughly right before I think
the IDS merged, which would have been, what 2010 I think. So, I wanna
say it was maybe 2007, 2006 that they finally everything was squared
off. They had paid off IDS and it was truly now free and clear and
just the SPAA hall.
Diniz Borges: Describe to us uh what is a festa?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: So, it starts with the, the history, you know,
goes back to Queen Saint Isabel selling her crown and wanting to um
feed her people. So, for us here in Selma, the festa is feeding the
people we feed them on Sunday. Our festa is Trinity Sunday, and we
usually do three feedings. Because of COVID, this year, we had a more
reduced festa, we did one feeding, but typically we have three
feedings on Sunday and the whole community comes out to, to eat. We
may not see them at anything, you know, for the entire year, but they
come, they come to eat the sopas and so it's a year's process to plan
is what the festa is. So, it's more than just, I guess from an outside
point of view we actually had a gentleman come and film us one of the
years I was president, he was doing his own little thing, you know,
had always been here kind of wanted to know. So, he did this little
video of us that year and, you know, from the, it gave me a different
insight into our festa because festa for most people you know, they
just see, oh, it's a band, it's a parade, you go to mass, you have
dresses and capes and then you come back and you eat and then there's
a dance and you eat some more, you know. So that's kind of the outside
of it, but it's the purpose of it, which is Queen Saint Isabelle and
keeping her tradition alive. I was always taught that we have to honor
Saint Isabel and keep her tradition of feeding the, the poor, feeding
her poor people with us because our relatives were in that group and
had she not been so generous and fed that, my family has always felt
that we may not be here. So that's why the connection with the hall
and the festas has always been so close because that was instilled
into my grandmother who instilled it into me that without her
generosity and her, her kind heart back in 1200 something, 1100
something. Um you know very well, our ancestors would not have made it
through, and we would not be here today. So, it's kind of our payback
as a thank you um to her that we do for at least for my family that we
do the festa still.
Diniz Borges: Uh in in your perspective, um how important is the festa,
within the role of the total Portuguese American experience in
California, Portuguese community in the Valley?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: I think it's key. Um I think it's so interesting,
you know, you and I we’re Portuguese, you know, but if they're full
blooded or you go to Ancestry and you're only 42.3% or whatever it may
be. So, you're immersed into it already, you already know what it's
about. You just grow up in it, but it's so amazing. So, it's
important. It's, it's, it's the core of the, the Portuguese
foundations because to me, because that's where everything started,
you know. Um when they came over there were festas here before there
were fraternal organizations. It was everybody getting together. I can
only imagine all these immigrants who may or may not have known each
other, but they start to talk, and they start to see this new land
they're in and that's how they come together. You know, it's, it's the
festa, it's my grandparents met at a festa and that's how they got
married and that's why you're all blessed with me today. But that's so
many people's stories you know, it's my great grandparent’s story.
They went to a festa, so I think without the festa most of us may not
be here or we may not be, you know, maybe the right percentage of
Portuguese, because without the festa for our, our grandparents to go
to, they might have ended up marrying, which wouldn't have been bad,
but marrying someone outside of the Portuguese culture. And then you
know, it just gets diluted. But one thing with the festas, even though
if you're not Portuguese, but I think it's, um, I'm not sure the word
I'm looking for, but you know, maybe the kudos to us is the fact that
we put on a festa and like I'll speak for Selma here. Even on our
committee, our committee is maybe half Portuguese people and have
people that marry Portuguese people, but they, you know, not just the
love for their spouse, because trust me that's not enough to do the
hard work that it takes to run the hall or run the festa, but they
start to fall in love with the culture and how great is it to be able
to say, look, we're Portuguese. We do this for the community. But
people start to fall in love with our culture and they want to learn
our language and they want to learn more about us all, because we put
on a great meal one day a year and invite everybody to come as
basically a giant thank you for all of our blessings throughout the
year.
Diniz Borges: Since you've been involved ever since you can remember,
you said your mother, your grandmother dressed you up and you were
part of, of the festa court. Um how have you seen or has there been
any evolution in the festa, in the last uh 30 plus years?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Here in Selma, um I would say not, not so much. I
mean, there's been some adaptations, but when you look at festas
elsewhere, you know, you start seeing kings. You know, we never had a
king here. We still have not had a king here. But I see it coming to
be honest with you because the young ladies that want to put on a
wedding dress and wear a hot cape and 107-degree weather that we're
blessed here with some days for our festa and march to church and
march back and do the same thing over and over and over several
weekends in a row until the Fall comes then they go to school, then
they start all over again after Easter. You know, the whole cycle.
We're seeing a decline. You know, it used to be, I could say like when
I wanted to be queen every year, my grandma put my name in, I was
kicked out because I was too young, not too young. The way we select
our queens here is uh in October at our board meeting, you bring the
names, so you bring the names and it's decided based on whoever is the
oldest and we do three years out. So, every year my grandma went to
put me in for little queen. I was beat out. So, I got the following
year. Same thing for senior queen. I got beat out twice. So I was
quite a little bit older being a queen. I was graduating high school
when I was queen here for in Selma in ‘96 that's the only reason I
remember the year because the same year I graduated high school, but I
was more older than you had seen at the time. But it's because I was
born later in the year. I was always bypassed or there was always
someone older. So, but there used to be a fight, you know, not, not a
literal fight, but a fight to be queen. Now, it's like, okay, we need
a queen who can we go ask? And we're actually going out for the most
part and trying to bring people in and like speaking for right now
here at this moment, we don't have three years of queens like we
normally do so we're starting to have to have those discussions of, do
we go with one queen? Do we potentially start you know, I said at a
meeting, I said I can give you a king because I have a godson that
would love to dress up and probably walk down to church because he
loves to be Portuguese. But I said that's all I can provide you from
my family because we all have boys now. We don't have any, any girls.
So, you see the decline, so I think we're gonna start to see some
changes in that way as far as maybe who represents us. Um the festa
here we've gotten not as far as the pop, population coming and eating
and participating with us or even praying the rosary with us when we
do it for the week. But the other towns that come, you know, I
remember when I was queen in ‘96 we had like 13 other towns. It was a
big thing. Now, our average is maybe five you know, so there's less
towns coming. Um, and I know it's because they're going through the
same struggles we are. Getting the younger generation to, again, at
least for the girls to get them to want to dress up, make that
commitment and do all of those things. So, I think there'll be a lot
of changes for festas, uh, going forward. I mean, you might just see
just our flags might be presented at one point. You might see things
like kings like you see in some of the other areas already. Um so I, I
like the fact that at least I'll speak here for Selma, but I think
it's, it's kind of across the board because as you know, we've done
some of the, the PBBI um sessions you had over the Summer during
COVID, and we had a lot of things about the halls and stuff and a lot
of the common things. It was at least my biggest takeaway from being a
part of those, um those panels was seeing that we're not the only
ones. Here we're struggling to get more people involved and um keep
people with us that, you know other areas are having the same issues
and that way we can actually start to learn from each other more you
know, and we can come, I can come to Selma and say, okay, we can't
find a queen, but you know what Riverdale they're doing the king
thing. It's time for us to adapt to do the king thing or maybe we're
the leaders and we start opening that door to say, all right, we're
gonna expand it. We're gonna change our bylaws and we're gonna go
outside of, you know, has to be a female of Catholic faith, you know,
that has made her first communion in order to be our little queen. And
same thing. Um, a young lady of Catholic faith who has made her
confirmation in order to be our senior queen. We might need to start
looking to adapt there in order to make sure we have at least that
representation. But I think at the very least festas, if they were to
evolve and they have, they lose that piece. You're always gonna have
the social aspect and you're gonna have the food and you're gonna have
at least that gathering. So, you at least have the, the main core.
Diniz Borges: Do you see the festa, and as here in Selma in particular,
do you see the festa as just a Portuguese kind of answer a little bit
in a, in a different way when it comes to the queens of opening up to
other ethnicities this. But do you see the festa and, and here in, do
people do only Portuguese people participate, or do you have people
across different ethnic backgrounds that compose the, the city?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: It is definitely other ethnic backgrounds. Um as I
said here in Selma, the Portuguese community, um you know, it'd be
interesting to see, you know, we did that sentence, make the, the
census to make Portuguese count. I'd be curious to see, you know, when
the data gets all broken out how many people here actually associated
themselves with being of Portuguese descent. Because as far as what I
know in my little bubble, you know, I probably could count the people
that identify as Portuguese descent that I know that are Portuguese
and live in Selma, you know, you know, probably on my, maybe my hands
and my toes, but it's, it's so small. Um, you know our, our committee
here is made of people from Hanford and Fowler and Riverdale. Um
Actually, I think myself and Erica are the only ones that actually
live in Selma anymore that actually are board members and come to all
of the meetings. But we have always relied since I was a kid. I can
remember my grandma, um I knew festa was coming around. You know,
because as a kid, you follow the school calendar and all you were
worried about is when it was over and when it started. But I knew
festa was coming when my grandma would go and literally pull out of
her closet, this little cardboard cigar box that probably had a little
bit of tape on it by the time she was done because she had to use this
cigar box. And I knew that meant she was about to get the ribbons from
the festa, she was about to get her little receipt book out and she
was gonna go and make her rounds in the country around the house to
all of the Portuguese people get their donations. And so, I knew festa
was coming. But besides that, and the financial means Selma has
always, at least I can speak back to the eighties for myself, has
always relied on the community as a whole when it comes to the um
helping with some of the funding. Yes, we have dairies and they have
been very generous to us. But again, um you know, when I was queen in
‘96 I think we had 13 cow donors. Now we have five, you know, actually
three. Two are people that just donate money. And in memory of
someone, they weren't really even part of the dairy industry. They're
actually raisin farmers, but we've always relied on you know, the
Mexican restaurants in town, they give you those gift certificates,
the Chinese restaurants in town, the jewelers, everybody here and
there's not one Portuguese business in Selma, other than maybe Rose's
Pizza. Um, you know, but, but they all participate as far as, you
know, we're, we're never hardly ever rejected when we're like asking
for something to auction off or raffle off. And those are the same
people that come, you know, so you see the Chinese people, you see the
Hispanic people and they're so excited to get the sopas, you know, and
it's like, you know, it was it,'s different as a, as an adult than a
child. As a child, you know, going to festa to represent either Selma,
um as a side attendant in the court or whatever it was, I was tired of
sopas by the time you're done with the eight-week process or whatever
it is, um, usually Pismo we kind of stopped, uh which was Pismo was
fine to go to because that was at least the beach, and we were
escaping the heat. But, you know, you get to as a kid, I didn't
appreciate the food now, especially with the COVID that happened. It
was like, man, I'm actually craving it and I can't have it. And so, it
made you appreciate even more. But as an adult seeing the people, you
know, even though I'm working or whatever but to see the people and to
see them be happy and they get those Facebook messages now and to see
the Facebook post, you know, going to Selma Festa. Food was great as
always at Selma Festa, gives you more of a sense of pride, you know.
Diniz Borges: Your grandmother was, as you said, the driving force
behind your involvement and from the cigar box, all of the other great
stories, but what is the role of women in festas? Was your grandmother
uh an anomaly, let's put it this way or were there always lots of
women involved in your history of festas in the last 30 plus years?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: So, the last 30 plus years I can definitely say
there have been some women. Back when we were IDS was founded male
only. That's why you had the SPRSI’s and the UPPEC’s that came about
to be females only. And I think it was roughly when we had our
centennial here and my grandma was still alive, and she put together a
rough history between IDS records and our records. And so roughly in
the 1960s, when IDS let in women, that's when women became more part
of the outside of cooking, you would see them out there cooking,
washing pots, cleaning um, you know, all the things that today, you
know, if someone would seem as very, uh, non-politically correct, but
that was the, the role of the Portuguese female in the festa up until
about the sixties or seventies. So here I can remember going to board
meetings and it was predominantly male, but my grandma was not
necessarily an anomaly. She was, however, the only for well, she was
not the only um, but she was the first female president of this hall.
And that came roughly in ‘98. I was the second in roughly 2014. Since
me, um I served for a few years, I think I served four or five years.
Then after me was another female president and our current president
is Constance Brazil. And so now maybe we see even a, a different trend
um in that regard that maybe women are taking more of a role. In fact,
when I think of what composes our board today uh of the eleven people,
I think eight are female and three are male So a great time, you know,
but I can remember at least during my, my time uh you know, that I
roughly remember from the eighties, there was always roughly five to
six women that were active in um in the actual board realm in the
actual officer position realms and stuff like that.
Diniz Borges: Did. So, um let's talk a little bit about SPRSI, which
means uh Sociedade Portuguesa de Reina Santa Isabel. So, the
Portuguese Society of the, of the Holy Queen Isabel. Um And um and
you've been very involved in SPRSI, Sociedade Portuguesa de Reina
Santa Isabel. Um tell us a little bit about, uh I know, you know some
of the history of it that she'll tell us a little bit what drove these
women in a, in a time that was very, very male dominant society and
all the societies were male that existed at the time and male only to
begin a um a Portuguese lodge only for women?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Yeah. So, SPRSI, Sociedade Portuguesa de Reina
Santa Isabel was founded in Oakland on October uh sorry, uh March
15th, 18 98. And it was founded by 30 women and basically, it started
as an altar society at Saint Joseph's Church in Oakland, and they saw
the IDS forming or the IDS was already here. UPPEC was already here.
Diniz Borges: Um these were all the, the male lodges.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: They were all the male lodges. Um PCU, uh the
Continents which all form Luso. So, the men, you know, and they formed
for the purposes of funeral things and helping each other out et
cetera. But the women saw this, and it took that little group and one
in particular, her name is Rosa Oliveda, she's what we consider our
founder in SPRSI. She was very thought, forward thinking. I mean, here
you are in 1898 you have horse and buggies. You don't have a
profession outside of the home. Your, your goal is to leave your
parents' house, get married, have children, raise the children, help
raise your grandchildren and then just, just continue the cycle on or
you might help on a farm or something like that, but you didn't really
have your, um, your own identity. And we have a past Grand President
Bertha Medeira. And I remember her speeches and they were always about
this. And she would say that, you know, the greatest thing, a woman
before 1960 could aspire to be was Grand President of the SPRSI,
because there was no world for you. Well, there was no way for you to
show an independence to have a title to be in charge of something to
have those leadership roles because women couldn't even vote yet. And
here we are with the SPRSI having an organization where you met, you
formed councils, you had a convention that had to be put on, you're
selling insurance, you're, you're, you're bringing more women in and
we were women only, you know, they're traveling by horse and buggy
from Eureka down to San Diego and everywhere in between. And it's just
amazing when you think about it to me. It's definitely one of the
histories. I love, uh, very much. Um, because I always looked when I
was president you know, I had a car, I could get anywhere in the state
within roughly 3 to 6 hours. But for them, it was 3 to 6 days. So, if
they had a visit in Eureka where I can get there in a day, they would
have had to plan that trip days, if not, maybe weeks in advance, you
know, to get there because a lot of them didn't have cars, the train
system didn't go everywhere. And even if you got to the train to one
point, you had to have a way to point B there were, you know the
communication skills, you know, letters is how they were doing it. And
it just amazes me how they were able to put, um, you know, an
organization that is now 120 plus years old together with just those,
those 30 women. And I would have loved to have been, you know, there
when they sparked the idea, you know, we're told, um, that basically
after an altar society meeting, she gathered them up and was like
look, we can do this too, let's show them we can do this too. And it
was all just learning. I would imagine they didn't have a lot of help
from, you know, the other organizations that were out there, you know,
maybe their husbands or whatever. They had to do everything,
everything on their own and it took them roughly three years to
finally get to the point of being able to have an actual convention
and have a president, which Rosa Oliveira is our first one. And, you
know, it's just, just amazing what they, what they accomplished. And
way before their time.
Diniz Borges: And do you, do you feel that young Portuguese American,
uh women know this story enough about it? Even the ones who have maybe
a policy or had their grandmother or mom buy a policy?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: You know, I'd say no. Uh, unfortunately but the
same goes for, I guess really any fraternal organization probably. But
at least for SPRSI, you know, I can tell you today, we have roughly
3600 members. But as far as those that are still active and that might
know the histories and all of that, I would say it's honestly less
than 100 and where the lack is if it's just a lack of not, not maybe
sharing it enough or maybe just like thinking back to when I was a
child. I loved the stories. But that was because my family had
enrooted me, and I had a particular connection with Saint Isabel. I
mean, that became my confirmation name was after Saint Isabel. So, it
was a matter of you know, just kind of normal for me. And so, and
being raised by my grandma, I have a different mindset, um which I am
proud of and um I'm very grateful for. But I'm not your typical,
probably in this area if you were to take, I think I had two
Portuguese classmates my whole time here in Selma, starting from
elementary school up. If you were to bring them in, they're in totally
different worlds, you know, outside of when they were queen here. No
affiliation with any Portuguese organization, the hall, they went on
to have a career, got married, you know, just took on a whole
different, different life. Um but me, because I was raised by my
grandma, I have fiscal policies that are very different than my
generation. And I have the, the culture and just, just a variety of
different things. So, I'm very grateful for her and very grateful to
organizations especially like SPRSI that eventually allowed kids to
join in the sixties and therefore created youth groups that I could
participate in and eventually, you know, as a kid, it would have been
funny and would not have meant much or people wouldn't have understand
it. But my goal was always to be Grand President of the SPRSI. It took
me til 2008 to do it, but um but I will be forever their longest
president because I served two years.
Diniz Borges: Have you um have you ever been to the homeland of your
ancestors to the Azores or to mainland Portugal?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: I did, I um a few years ago. So, it would be uh
2016. So in 2015, there's um a confraria in Portugal that looks over
the monastery where our, or my patron Queen Saint Isabel's body lies.
And they reached out to us because the monastery was in some repair.
And back in, I think 1950s, uh SPRSI paid for and used to send money
to maintain this window. It kind of fell to the wayside when we had
our merger. Everybody kind of forgot that we were sending this tithe
every year to make sure that the, the window was always in, in good
repair. So, they reached out and they found us through Facebook. So
luckily, we have Facebook these days, reached out, ran across um Angie
Brazil actually from Hanford. She reached out to me and I was like,
ok, so I reached out to them and was like, hey, you know, what are we
doing? And they're like, oh, well, we have um uh this window and you
guys presented it to us and it's in repair and we're gonna be
celebrating this um you know, the 500th anniversary of her
beautification to becoming a saint in 2018. And we'd like you to be a
part of helping us to restore it. So, we took it up and we raised the
funds, and we got it repaired. But we had the honor of going back
there and they allowed us to walk in their procession and be part of
the, the celebration that they do every even year for Saint Isabel.
And it was just so moving because the streets you know, as they say,
these are the same streets, they're not paved over with asphalt and
stuff like here, they're still the cobblestone streets and the people
as you're carrying her image, you know, they're trained to walk a
certain way so that she sways and it's walking and it's just so
majestic and I encourage everybody to go if you get a chance. So,
whether you just want to go and see it, you know, it's always around
her feast day, around Fourth of July. And just to see and all the
people that come out just for her to go into Coimbra and they take her
image from her new resting place, and they take her down to the church
and they go by her old resting place and it's just amazing. So that
was my first experience because when they said oh, we only do this
every even year. I was like, well I don't have many, even years to do
it. So, we put it together and we had a small group that went and then
I went back, and I took my godmother in 2018, that was 2016. I went
back in 2018. And because I took my godmother, we went to the Azores,
so that was my first experience with Pico, uh going to Pico.
Diniz Borges: How was that? To walk on the streets of your ancestors?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: It was.
Diniz Borges: Your great, great, grandparents.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Great, great grandparents. It was amazing, it was
to see because so much hasn't, I mean, I know things have changed. The
houses there at least some of them but not all, you know, they have
TV, they have electricity, they have, you know, cable, running water,
all those kind of things. But the architecture and when you look at
the buildings themselves or the homes themselves and just see the, the
rustic look and the appeal and it's like, you know, just to envision
their day-to-day lives. But then the, the forethought they would have
had to have as well and at least the aspirations and the, the goals
they set for themselves to actually want to leave this and go off to
somewhere that they knew nothing about that when I compare what we
have here in the valley to the island over there I mean, it's, it's
apples to oranges, you know. The, the cows still roam free over there
here, we pin them up all kinds of things.
Diniz Borges: Did the visit affect you, uh as far as your cultural
ties?
Tisha
to go
back,
often
Marie
back.
but I
as I,
Cardoza: It did, it definitely gave me a love for wanting
Um I was very disappointed with COVID that I could not go
will be going back next year. Um and I plan to go back as
I can, you know, even to the point of where, um you know,
potentially looking at uh the property there to make it you know,
maybe when I retire, you know, I can go there and, you know at least
spend more time, spend an entire summer where I don't have to work or
whatever. But, uh, definitely and, and just the feeling, you know, for
never, never having been there, my grandmother had only, only gone
once and she had gone early eighties. Um, I think right around the
time they got electricity if I remember her story, correct, at least
where she was going to visit her cousins anyways. So just, just, just
to see it and to see the, just the difference and the people you know,
they didn't know who I was, they clearly knew I was American, but just
how welcoming and inviting they were and you know, the, the food I ate
as well as just the uh you know, going to all of my, my godmother's
relatives house and, you know, they're giving you a bottle of their a
aguadent and being like okay, I need to need to slow down and seeing
their festas and seeing their festas from here. And that's why I
believe things kind of, you know, take a cycle and they come and turn.
So over there, there are no queens, there are no capes, there are no
fancy dresses. It is literally about paying um you know, paying your
homage, giving your honor to whichever saint it is. If it's Saint
Isabel, if it's Saint Anthony, bon Jesus, San Miguel, whichever saint
they have developed, uh their patronage to. That's the honor, you
know. Yes, there's flowers and there's food and there's mass. But I
think we may see here, maybe we got a little too American and you know
where, where we try to outdo one queen tries to outdo another and you
gotta have a fancier cape and you have to have a fancier dress and if
you go back there, you just realize how simplistic that the whole
thing was meant to be about just feeding the people and honoring a
saint and being thankful for what you have.
Diniz Borges: To what extent Tisha do you believe that being Portuguese
American has shaped who you are as a person?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Oh, wow. Um you know, I, it, it'd be hard to
imagine to be anything else, but it has definitely given me uh a work
ethic that, um, you know, I have seen in, in my ancestors knowing what
they had to do to come over. So, I have a very strong work ethic uh to
my detriment based in the American culture sometimes. Um because it's
just such a passion, you can't tell a Portuguese person you can't do
something, we will show you, we can do it. And I think that's a little
different than maybe you know, some other cultures or just the
American in general culture that we have, especially with what we've
seen during these COVID times and how we see employment issues and
different things like that. You know, Portuguese people, whether it's
to milk a cow whether it's to work 9 to 5, whether it's to run a
vineyard or whatever it is, you have your job, you don't feel complete
if you're not working, you know. Um, it's just, it's just part of us.
So, I think Portuguese people have a very strong work ethic and so I
definitely see that in myself, um, as well as a love for the just the
culture, the religion. Um I think has definitely groomed me into the
person that I am. Always wanting to be successful and always wanting
to have a family tie. I mean, Portuguese people, I mean, you and I,
you know, we're cousins somehow, it's gotta be. But when we did those
again, those panels, you know, I was on one of your panels and this
woman sends me a message afterwards. Were you just on the panel with
Diniz Borges? Yeah, she goes, we're cousins and I said, great we're
cousins. She goes from Selma, the raisin people I said yes, we're the
raisin people, but it's just it's just such a family connectivity. And
I know other cultures have something similar. But my personal um
dealings with other cultures, you know, uh dealing with like my
spouse's family who is English and German you know, they don't have
that strong family tie uh that I see like on my Portuguese side, you
know, where we all gather and you may not see someone for a long time,
but if they need your help, I think that's part of the Portuguese
spirit as well. We're gonna help you. They are um you know, as far as
the culture, they're always wanting to help and probably we all get it
from Saint Isabel because she wasn't gonna let her people suffer.
We're not gonna let people suffer. We are very uh generous. So, I find
myself to be very generous, be it uh financially, be it, work, sweat.
Sweat equity as they call it. Uh I think that all comes from being
Portuguese. I think if there was, you know, if I hadn't been raised by
my Portuguese grandmother or um you know, it definitely had her
influence if I had been raised in a, you know, a more common home, so
to speak. Uh but uh I don't think I would have had those ethics and uh
we just recently had the dinner here for my my uncle, my great uncle
and I was talking to my cousin and it's looking around the room I was
explaining to her that this is the village that raised me because I
was raised by a village much like the stories I hear in the Azores. It
wasn't mom and dad that raised all their kids. Sometimes the aunt came
in, the grandparents came in. Um you know, you hear the story of there
were a lot of us. I went to go live with my aunt that had no Children.
But you were all still family and you all help like a village. So, I
was raised by a village here with my great aunts and my great uncles
because my grandma, you know, she was older, and she did her best and
I'm always grateful for what she did for me. But um she raised me the
best she could. And I am definitely the person because of her, and she
is who she was, because she knew the struggles that her mother had
with coming over and her grandfather had with coming over. So, she
never let us forget that, that foundation, those roots and it was
always about hard work, giving back to your, your culture, your
community and always helping people in need. So those are, I think are
some of my greatest uh attributes as a person and definitely come from
the Portuguese side, so to speak.
Diniz Borges: Is there anything that we didn't cover that you'd like to
add?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: No, I think uh I think we've covered it all.
Probably talk too much. You probably are good there. Um but you know,
and I appreciate the opportunity I really do. Uh like, so we're a
small community. So not many people, one know, Selma, let alone know
the hall here, know the festa here, you know, know our history, know
about us. But um you know, so I'm very grateful for the opportunity
and I also commend you and the PBBI and, and Fresno State for doing
all of this because, um I mean, you know, I'm 42 years old and this is
the first thing of, of anything like this here, you know, probably not
even just for our culture, but just in general really where you're
preserving things. And I can only imagine the people that will be
looking at this in 100 years and comparing it and to see the
similarities, you know, between my story and their story, the hall
story and where the hall is then and there and, you know, maybe the
history got lost, but someone might run across this as they're doing a
humanities course or something there at Fresno State and they're gonna
have to go to the library and pull this up and they're gonna be like,
hey, I'm from Selma. I didn't know this and it's just, it's just
great. It's all around great.
Diniz Borges: Thank you very much. Thanks.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: My pleasure.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Tisha Marie Cardoza.
Diniz Borges: And were you named after anyone?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: My first name, Tisha, comes after a soap opera
star. I think it's Tisha Gerber or Garber or something like that, that
my mother fell in love with the name. My middle name Marie comes from
both of my great grandmothers. Um so both of my mother's grandmothers
were named Marie or Mary, a version thereof and that's my middle name.
Diniz Borges: And uh when, where were you born?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: I was born on October 28th, 1978, in Selma
California.
Diniz Borges: And when did your family uh more or less your ancestors
that immigrate from the Azores? About what time frame did they
immigrate from the Azores?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: So, I am Portuguese on my mother's side and um her
maternal side came over the earliest they came over in 1889 settled
here in Selma, uh bought a ranch, started growing grapes and we still
have the ranch today. On the Cardoza side, which is my mother's
paternal side. They came over in 1910. Um so all of their, my, my
grandfather and all of his siblings were born here for my grandmother
She was born here. Her father was born here because that's the Silva
side that came over, like I said in 1890. So, I'm far removed from the
Azores on both sides a little bit.
Diniz Borges: Do you know which islands they came from?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: They all came from Pico, all came from around
Silveira, the Lajes area. Yeah.
Diniz Borges: And, uh, do they ever talk about, uh, and your
grandparents, uh, why their parents left the Azores? Why they left the
major reasons?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: My, uh, grandmother, her grandfather that came
over on the Silva side, better opportunities. Um, he came he made his
settlement, he found the fields, he did his farming and before he left
the Azores, he had some friends who had eight-year-old daughter or
something like that at the time and he goes, I'm gonna come back when
I make my, when I have a place to bring her, I'm gonna come back and
marry her and that's what he did. He went back, they married and
brought her over and they did their, they had all of their four
children here. So quite an age gap between my great, great
grandparents on that side and they, they always were farmers. So it
was just a better opportunity. Um, on the Cardoza side, my great
grandma there, uh, she was a Bettencourt. She came over with her
parents, they came over through Ellis Island and all of that and it
was the same thing just looking for better opportunities. My great
grandfather, Cardoza, it was during the war, and it was a way not to
have to go away to Angola or wherever I think is where it was at the
time. So, he came over probably the latest of all of them and it was
to avoid having to be shipped off. He decided to come here because his
brothers were here. He was one of 20 so a few of them had already made
their way. So, he just decided to make his way as well.
Diniz Borges: It’s your grandmother and your grandparents that you
mostly had contact with, did they ever talk about their parents or
their grandparents? Uh making any references to how it was to adapt to
the new country?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Yes. Uh obviously the language barrier, you know,
they only spoke Portuguese and uh my great grandma Mary J Silva, uh
her maiden name was Xavier. Uh when she came over, they pinned the
paper to her shirt saying deliver me basically to Selma, California.
And so, by the grace of God, really, she found her way to Selma. And
it was because um because of that and as well as with both of my
grandparents only speaking Portuguese in the home and then going to
school, they had such a hard time transitioning that they made
unfortunately, but I understand why they made the decision not to
teach their children Portuguese. They felt they were helping them out
by making sure they only spoke English at home. So, they didn't have
to go through the trials and the tribulations of adjusting when they
went off to school. So, I find that a disadvantage, you know, and I
was raised by my grandma and even though I was a little more removed
you know, I learned words here and there but she never had, um I don't
know, I don't wanna say it wasn't a desire but it was just, she didn't
see the need for me to learn Portuguese because I was in America. I
was basically going to live in America, and I didn't really need to
know any, any Portuguese. Plus, I think she liked the fact that she
could talk to her cousins about me or about stuff and I had no clue
what they were saying. So, I think that's the real reason.
Diniz Borges: How important do you feel was for, as you said, you were
raised by your grandma and lots of connections with her? Of course,
how important to her was it that she would be raised? Although not uh
learning Portuguese but with the Portuguese culture?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: That was very strong? Um I was raised because I
was raised by my grandma and back as a child, you know, there was, I
think roughly seven Portuguese fraternal organizations at the time. We
belonged to every single one and I was down in this hall at least
twice every week for one of their meetings, as well as, as far as when
it came to the hall I had to come down and work. I had to volunteer,
you know, depending on my age level, whether it was, I'm just taking
out trash or I'm serving plates or I'm helping stir something. She was
down here working. I had to be down here working. So, the festa became
really important, you know, had to do the little queen thing, the big
queen thing, side maids, flower girls. Um I think as soon as I could
walk, she had pictures of me being at least a flower girl. And then
I’ve served here as little queen. I’ve served here as senior queen and
then um eventually I became the President uh a ways back. But um the
Portuguese culture was always uh endeared to her and that was
something she did want to make sure. And I think she was somewhat
disappointed that her children kind of didn't really show the
enthusiasm that she did. They were there to support her. She was a
Grand President of the Brotherhood of Saint Anthony. They went to her
convention; they helped her fundraise; they did those types of things.
But as far as actually ever taking an interest and doing things, even
at a council level, my mother was the only one that really took, um
took the interest, you know, for example, not anymore, but when the
hall burned and it needed a new roof, my mother actually reroofed this
hall and she served, you know, ran the bar, did the sodas, which oddly
enough are my same jobs now. I run the bar and I do the sodas at the
festa, but she was always down here working any time they needed to
work. So, uh, my grandma had six children and she was the only one
that really took an interest in the, the fraternal aspect, which was
the tie to the culture, especially here because we're a small
community. So, we don't have a lot of, we don't have a Portuguese
soccer club. We don't have, you know we only have our one festa here.
We don't have bakeries, restaurants or anything. It really just came
down to the fraternal organizations that luckily found their way to
Selma one way or another hundreds of years ago or over 100 years ago.
All of them, I think now and then eventually formed the hall and
brought the small group that was together, small group that was here
in Selma together.
Diniz Borges: So, so would you say that these uh, uh her insistence uh
by, by her involvement uh grew within you throughout the years? Uh and
as you became older, uh what's what drives you to stay in touch with
your roots?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: So, yes, um all of my involvement stems from her.
Um as a child, I was not as appreciative as I will tell you. I have
grown now that I'm in my forties, early forties that is. But, um,
yeah, it was just, you know, coming to those meetings at the hall for
whatever organization it was, was not fun. But I enjoyed the bigger
things like the visits and seeing, um, seeing relatives, seeing
fraternal family, you know, because you do build those bonds. You
know, it took me until probably fourth or fifth grade to realize that
all these people she had me calling aunt and uncle were really
cousins. And I was just so confused when you have that fifth-grade
family tree project. And I was like, how's Aunt Mary? She was, well,
she's not your aunt, she's your cousin, but you need to call her aunts
and I was just so confused. And then just the friends that she had
developed that were introduced as family. So that Portuguese
fraternalism turned into a big broader family, which in my later
years, luckily because I kept into it um especially with SPRSI. Um I
had to move away for work sent me to San Mateo for two years, a past
Grand President Caroline Silva took me in what was supposed to be
short term. I lived there with her for two years, but if I wouldn't
have had those connections through the Portuguese culture and then the
fraternal organizations, which is how I expressed my Portuguese
culture, I would have been thrown into a city for the first time ever
leaving Selma and not known anybody, but it was such an easy
transition for me. And um I remember going to work and people, there
were lots of us that were um repositioned for lack of a better word
and everybody was struggling, and I was completely fine, because I had
a fraternal family, an extension of my family. So, it was no different
than being at grandma's house you know, and it was, it was great. It
was a great experience, but had I not, had my grandma not pushed me to
be in the fraternal organizations. I would have never met these people
and would not have ever had a family that goes well beyond my
bloodline, so to speak.
Diniz Borges: Let's talk a little bit about the hall. So, the Selma uh
Portuguese hall, tell us a little bit about uh the initials, what it
means and uh a little bit of the history that you know, and I know you
know quite well about, about the Selma Portuguese Hall.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Uh SPAA stands for Selma Portuguese Azorean
Association. It started around 1907 as a IDS council. So, it was
originally an IDS hall up until the eighties. So, I don't know much of
if the hall, well I know it changed names. So, I don't know if it's
just IDS Council 76 hall up till then. But it started as the IDS hall.
Their thing was, uh, their devotion is to the Holy Spirit. So, they
started having the festas. So, our festa history, our books as SPAA go
back to, I believe it’s ‘84, ‘85. And before that, it's IDS, which is
now PFSA. So, I know what happened is the hall had a fire and it
burned and when they were, the IDS council was looking for funds and
ways to, you know how they were gonna rebuild, et cetera. There was a
smaller group within there that was like, why can't we do this on our
own? It's basically the story uh I've been told through the years and
so they just kind of broke away from IDS and that's when they formed
uh the SPAA, so I'm not sure how they came up with the name other than
they were all from the Azores. Um all of the families I think mostly
come from, from Pico. Um my uncle Louie uh was part of that. My
grandma was part of that there in the eighties, uh when they all
decided to break free. Um so what they decided to do was they would
take over the hall, but IDS carried the loan for them, and I remember
going to those meetings where it's like okay, loan payments due, we
need to make money. And um so it was a big push on, not just the
festa, the festa was not meant to be a fundraiser here. It was meant
to give back to the community and truly keep with the spirit of Saint
Isabel, which is important to all of us. Myself in particular, but my
family, because that's where I get it from, was important to make sure
that Saint Isabel was recognized here. And the was put on for the
community. So, they paid the mortgage more from the fundraisers, the
New Year's Eve Dance, the wine tasting. I remember them doing
breakfasts, all things I had to work at as a kid and that's how they
knew it was like a balloon payment kind of mortgage so, they had till
the end of the year to save all their money and make that payment. And
I remember being at the meeting when they were all here and they
signed that last check and they were just so excited that they had
finally made it, you know, and that was roughly right before I think
the IDS merged, which would have been, what 2010 I think. So, I wanna
say it was maybe 2007, 2006 that they finally everything was squared
off. They had paid off IDS and it was truly now free and clear and
just the SPAA hall.
Diniz Borges: Describe to us uh what is a festa?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: So, it starts with the, the history, you know,
goes back to Queen Saint Isabel selling her crown and wanting to um
feed her people. So, for us here in Selma, the festa is feeding the
people we feed them on Sunday. Our festa is Trinity Sunday, and we
usually do three feedings. Because of COVID, this year, we had a more
reduced festa, we did one feeding, but typically we have three
feedings on Sunday and the whole community comes out to, to eat. We
may not see them at anything, you know, for the entire year, but they
come, they come to eat the sopas and so it's a year's process to plan
is what the festa is. So, it's more than just, I guess from an outside
point of view we actually had a gentleman come and film us one of the
years I was president, he was doing his own little thing, you know,
had always been here kind of wanted to know. So, he did this little
video of us that year and, you know, from the, it gave me a different
insight into our festa because festa for most people you know, they
just see, oh, it's a band, it's a parade, you go to mass, you have
dresses and capes and then you come back and you eat and then there's
a dance and you eat some more, you know. So that's kind of the outside
of it, but it's the purpose of it, which is Queen Saint Isabelle and
keeping her tradition alive. I was always taught that we have to honor
Saint Isabel and keep her tradition of feeding the, the poor, feeding
her poor people with us because our relatives were in that group and
had she not been so generous and fed that, my family has always felt
that we may not be here. So that's why the connection with the hall
and the festas has always been so close because that was instilled
into my grandmother who instilled it into me that without her
generosity and her, her kind heart back in 1200 something, 1100
something. Um you know very well, our ancestors would not have made it
through, and we would not be here today. So, it's kind of our payback
as a thank you um to her that we do for at least for my family that we
do the festa still.
Diniz Borges: Uh in in your perspective, um how important is the festa,
within the role of the total Portuguese American experience in
California, Portuguese community in the Valley?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: I think it's key. Um I think it's so interesting,
you know, you and I we’re Portuguese, you know, but if they're full
blooded or you go to Ancestry and you're only 42.3% or whatever it may
be. So, you're immersed into it already, you already know what it's
about. You just grow up in it, but it's so amazing. So, it's
important. It's, it's, it's the core of the, the Portuguese
foundations because to me, because that's where everything started,
you know. Um when they came over there were festas here before there
were fraternal organizations. It was everybody getting together. I can
only imagine all these immigrants who may or may not have known each
other, but they start to talk, and they start to see this new land
they're in and that's how they come together. You know, it's, it's the
festa, it's my grandparents met at a festa and that's how they got
married and that's why you're all blessed with me today. But that's so
many people's stories you know, it's my great grandparent’s story.
They went to a festa, so I think without the festa most of us may not
be here or we may not be, you know, maybe the right percentage of
Portuguese, because without the festa for our, our grandparents to go
to, they might have ended up marrying, which wouldn't have been bad,
but marrying someone outside of the Portuguese culture. And then you
know, it just gets diluted. But one thing with the festas, even though
if you're not Portuguese, but I think it's, um, I'm not sure the word
I'm looking for, but you know, maybe the kudos to us is the fact that
we put on a festa and like I'll speak for Selma here. Even on our
committee, our committee is maybe half Portuguese people and have
people that marry Portuguese people, but they, you know, not just the
love for their spouse, because trust me that's not enough to do the
hard work that it takes to run the hall or run the festa, but they
start to fall in love with the culture and how great is it to be able
to say, look, we're Portuguese. We do this for the community. But
people start to fall in love with our culture and they want to learn
our language and they want to learn more about us all, because we put
on a great meal one day a year and invite everybody to come as
basically a giant thank you for all of our blessings throughout the
year.
Diniz Borges: Since you've been involved ever since you can remember,
you said your mother, your grandmother dressed you up and you were
part of, of the festa court. Um how have you seen or has there been
any evolution in the festa, in the last uh 30 plus years?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Here in Selma, um I would say not, not so much. I
mean, there's been some adaptations, but when you look at festas
elsewhere, you know, you start seeing kings. You know, we never had a
king here. We still have not had a king here. But I see it coming to
be honest with you because the young ladies that want to put on a
wedding dress and wear a hot cape and 107-degree weather that we're
blessed here with some days for our festa and march to church and
march back and do the same thing over and over and over several
weekends in a row until the Fall comes then they go to school, then
they start all over again after Easter. You know, the whole cycle.
We're seeing a decline. You know, it used to be, I could say like when
I wanted to be queen every year, my grandma put my name in, I was
kicked out because I was too young, not too young. The way we select
our queens here is uh in October at our board meeting, you bring the
names, so you bring the names and it's decided based on whoever is the
oldest and we do three years out. So, every year my grandma went to
put me in for little queen. I was beat out. So, I got the following
year. Same thing for senior queen. I got beat out twice. So I was
quite a little bit older being a queen. I was graduating high school
when I was queen here for in Selma in ‘96 that's the only reason I
remember the year because the same year I graduated high school, but I
was more older than you had seen at the time. But it's because I was
born later in the year. I was always bypassed or there was always
someone older. So, but there used to be a fight, you know, not, not a
literal fight, but a fight to be queen. Now, it's like, okay, we need
a queen who can we go ask? And we're actually going out for the most
part and trying to bring people in and like speaking for right now
here at this moment, we don't have three years of queens like we
normally do so we're starting to have to have those discussions of, do
we go with one queen? Do we potentially start you know, I said at a
meeting, I said I can give you a king because I have a godson that
would love to dress up and probably walk down to church because he
loves to be Portuguese. But I said that's all I can provide you from
my family because we all have boys now. We don't have any, any girls.
So, you see the decline, so I think we're gonna start to see some
changes in that way as far as maybe who represents us. Um the festa
here we've gotten not as far as the pop, population coming and eating
and participating with us or even praying the rosary with us when we
do it for the week. But the other towns that come, you know, I
remember when I was queen in ‘96 we had like 13 other towns. It was a
big thing. Now, our average is maybe five you know, so there's less
towns coming. Um, and I know it's because they're going through the
same struggles we are. Getting the younger generation to, again, at
least for the girls to get them to want to dress up, make that
commitment and do all of those things. So, I think there'll be a lot
of changes for festas, uh, going forward. I mean, you might just see
just our flags might be presented at one point. You might see things
like kings like you see in some of the other areas already. Um so I, I
like the fact that at least I'll speak here for Selma, but I think
it's, it's kind of across the board because as you know, we've done
some of the, the PBBI um sessions you had over the Summer during
COVID, and we had a lot of things about the halls and stuff and a lot
of the common things. It was at least my biggest takeaway from being a
part of those, um those panels was seeing that we're not the only
ones. Here we're struggling to get more people involved and um keep
people with us that, you know other areas are having the same issues
and that way we can actually start to learn from each other more you
know, and we can come, I can come to Selma and say, okay, we can't
find a queen, but you know what Riverdale they're doing the king
thing. It's time for us to adapt to do the king thing or maybe we're
the leaders and we start opening that door to say, all right, we're
gonna expand it. We're gonna change our bylaws and we're gonna go
outside of, you know, has to be a female of Catholic faith, you know,
that has made her first communion in order to be our little queen. And
same thing. Um, a young lady of Catholic faith who has made her
confirmation in order to be our senior queen. We might need to start
looking to adapt there in order to make sure we have at least that
representation. But I think at the very least festas, if they were to
evolve and they have, they lose that piece. You're always gonna have
the social aspect and you're gonna have the food and you're gonna have
at least that gathering. So, you at least have the, the main core.
Diniz Borges: Do you see the festa, and as here in Selma in particular,
do you see the festa as just a Portuguese kind of answer a little bit
in a, in a different way when it comes to the queens of opening up to
other ethnicities this. But do you see the festa and, and here in, do
people do only Portuguese people participate, or do you have people
across different ethnic backgrounds that compose the, the city?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: It is definitely other ethnic backgrounds. Um as I
said here in Selma, the Portuguese community, um you know, it'd be
interesting to see, you know, we did that sentence, make the, the
census to make Portuguese count. I'd be curious to see, you know, when
the data gets all broken out how many people here actually associated
themselves with being of Portuguese descent. Because as far as what I
know in my little bubble, you know, I probably could count the people
that identify as Portuguese descent that I know that are Portuguese
and live in Selma, you know, you know, probably on my, maybe my hands
and my toes, but it's, it's so small. Um, you know our, our committee
here is made of people from Hanford and Fowler and Riverdale. Um
Actually, I think myself and Erica are the only ones that actually
live in Selma anymore that actually are board members and come to all
of the meetings. But we have always relied since I was a kid. I can
remember my grandma, um I knew festa was coming around. You know,
because as a kid, you follow the school calendar and all you were
worried about is when it was over and when it started. But I knew
festa was coming when my grandma would go and literally pull out of
her closet, this little cardboard cigar box that probably had a little
bit of tape on it by the time she was done because she had to use this
cigar box. And I knew that meant she was about to get the ribbons from
the festa, she was about to get her little receipt book out and she
was gonna go and make her rounds in the country around the house to
all of the Portuguese people get their donations. And so, I knew festa
was coming. But besides that, and the financial means Selma has
always, at least I can speak back to the eighties for myself, has
always relied on the community as a whole when it comes to the um
helping with some of the funding. Yes, we have dairies and they have
been very generous to us. But again, um you know, when I was queen in
‘96 I think we had 13 cow donors. Now we have five, you know, actually
three. Two are people that just donate money. And in memory of
someone, they weren't really even part of the dairy industry. They're
actually raisin farmers, but we've always relied on you know, the
Mexican restaurants in town, they give you those gift certificates,
the Chinese restaurants in town, the jewelers, everybody here and
there's not one Portuguese business in Selma, other than maybe Rose's
Pizza. Um, you know, but, but they all participate as far as, you
know, we're, we're never hardly ever rejected when we're like asking
for something to auction off or raffle off. And those are the same
people that come, you know, so you see the Chinese people, you see the
Hispanic people and they're so excited to get the sopas, you know, and
it's like, you know, it was it,'s different as a, as an adult than a
child. As a child, you know, going to festa to represent either Selma,
um as a side attendant in the court or whatever it was, I was tired of
sopas by the time you're done with the eight-week process or whatever
it is, um, usually Pismo we kind of stopped, uh which was Pismo was
fine to go to because that was at least the beach, and we were
escaping the heat. But, you know, you get to as a kid, I didn't
appreciate the food now, especially with the COVID that happened. It
was like, man, I'm actually craving it and I can't have it. And so, it
made you appreciate even more. But as an adult seeing the people, you
know, even though I'm working or whatever but to see the people and to
see them be happy and they get those Facebook messages now and to see
the Facebook post, you know, going to Selma Festa. Food was great as
always at Selma Festa, gives you more of a sense of pride, you know.
Diniz Borges: Your grandmother was, as you said, the driving force
behind your involvement and from the cigar box, all of the other great
stories, but what is the role of women in festas? Was your grandmother
uh an anomaly, let's put it this way or were there always lots of
women involved in your history of festas in the last 30 plus years?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: So, the last 30 plus years I can definitely say
there have been some women. Back when we were IDS was founded male
only. That's why you had the SPRSI’s and the UPPEC’s that came about
to be females only. And I think it was roughly when we had our
centennial here and my grandma was still alive, and she put together a
rough history between IDS records and our records. And so roughly in
the 1960s, when IDS let in women, that's when women became more part
of the outside of cooking, you would see them out there cooking,
washing pots, cleaning um, you know, all the things that today, you
know, if someone would seem as very, uh, non-politically correct, but
that was the, the role of the Portuguese female in the festa up until
about the sixties or seventies. So here I can remember going to board
meetings and it was predominantly male, but my grandma was not
necessarily an anomaly. She was, however, the only for well, she was
not the only um, but she was the first female president of this hall.
And that came roughly in ‘98. I was the second in roughly 2014. Since
me, um I served for a few years, I think I served four or five years.
Then after me was another female president and our current president
is Constance Brazil. And so now maybe we see even a, a different trend
um in that regard that maybe women are taking more of a role. In fact,
when I think of what composes our board today uh of the eleven people,
I think eight are female and three are male So a great time, you know,
but I can remember at least during my, my time uh you know, that I
roughly remember from the eighties, there was always roughly five to
six women that were active in um in the actual board realm in the
actual officer position realms and stuff like that.
Diniz Borges: Did. So, um let's talk a little bit about SPRSI, which
means uh Sociedade Portuguesa de Reina Santa Isabel. So, the
Portuguese Society of the, of the Holy Queen Isabel. Um And um and
you've been very involved in SPRSI, Sociedade Portuguesa de Reina
Santa Isabel. Um tell us a little bit about, uh I know, you know some
of the history of it that she'll tell us a little bit what drove these
women in a, in a time that was very, very male dominant society and
all the societies were male that existed at the time and male only to
begin a um a Portuguese lodge only for women?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Yeah. So, SPRSI, Sociedade Portuguesa de Reina
Santa Isabel was founded in Oakland on October uh sorry, uh March
15th, 18 98. And it was founded by 30 women and basically, it started
as an altar society at Saint Joseph's Church in Oakland, and they saw
the IDS forming or the IDS was already here. UPPEC was already here.
Diniz Borges: Um these were all the, the male lodges.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: They were all the male lodges. Um PCU, uh the
Continents which all form Luso. So, the men, you know, and they formed
for the purposes of funeral things and helping each other out et
cetera. But the women saw this, and it took that little group and one
in particular, her name is Rosa Oliveda, she's what we consider our
founder in SPRSI. She was very thought, forward thinking. I mean, here
you are in 1898 you have horse and buggies. You don't have a
profession outside of the home. Your, your goal is to leave your
parents' house, get married, have children, raise the children, help
raise your grandchildren and then just, just continue the cycle on or
you might help on a farm or something like that, but you didn't really
have your, um, your own identity. And we have a past Grand President
Bertha Medeira. And I remember her speeches and they were always about
this. And she would say that, you know, the greatest thing, a woman
before 1960 could aspire to be was Grand President of the SPRSI,
because there was no world for you. Well, there was no way for you to
show an independence to have a title to be in charge of something to
have those leadership roles because women couldn't even vote yet. And
here we are with the SPRSI having an organization where you met, you
formed councils, you had a convention that had to be put on, you're
selling insurance, you're, you're, you're bringing more women in and
we were women only, you know, they're traveling by horse and buggy
from Eureka down to San Diego and everywhere in between. And it's just
amazing when you think about it to me. It's definitely one of the
histories. I love, uh, very much. Um, because I always looked when I
was president you know, I had a car, I could get anywhere in the state
within roughly 3 to 6 hours. But for them, it was 3 to 6 days. So, if
they had a visit in Eureka where I can get there in a day, they would
have had to plan that trip days, if not, maybe weeks in advance, you
know, to get there because a lot of them didn't have cars, the train
system didn't go everywhere. And even if you got to the train to one
point, you had to have a way to point B there were, you know the
communication skills, you know, letters is how they were doing it. And
it just amazes me how they were able to put, um, you know, an
organization that is now 120 plus years old together with just those,
those 30 women. And I would have loved to have been, you know, there
when they sparked the idea, you know, we're told, um, that basically
after an altar society meeting, she gathered them up and was like
look, we can do this too, let's show them we can do this too. And it
was all just learning. I would imagine they didn't have a lot of help
from, you know, the other organizations that were out there, you know,
maybe their husbands or whatever. They had to do everything,
everything on their own and it took them roughly three years to
finally get to the point of being able to have an actual convention
and have a president, which Rosa Oliveira is our first one. And, you
know, it's just, just amazing what they, what they accomplished. And
way before their time.
Diniz Borges: And do you, do you feel that young Portuguese American,
uh women know this story enough about it? Even the ones who have maybe
a policy or had their grandmother or mom buy a policy?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: You know, I'd say no. Uh, unfortunately but the
same goes for, I guess really any fraternal organization probably. But
at least for SPRSI, you know, I can tell you today, we have roughly
3600 members. But as far as those that are still active and that might
know the histories and all of that, I would say it's honestly less
than 100 and where the lack is if it's just a lack of not, not maybe
sharing it enough or maybe just like thinking back to when I was a
child. I loved the stories. But that was because my family had
enrooted me, and I had a particular connection with Saint Isabel. I
mean, that became my confirmation name was after Saint Isabel. So, it
was a matter of you know, just kind of normal for me. And so, and
being raised by my grandma, I have a different mindset, um which I am
proud of and um I'm very grateful for. But I'm not your typical,
probably in this area if you were to take, I think I had two
Portuguese classmates my whole time here in Selma, starting from
elementary school up. If you were to bring them in, they're in totally
different worlds, you know, outside of when they were queen here. No
affiliation with any Portuguese organization, the hall, they went on
to have a career, got married, you know, just took on a whole
different, different life. Um but me, because I was raised by my
grandma, I have fiscal policies that are very different than my
generation. And I have the, the culture and just, just a variety of
different things. So, I'm very grateful for her and very grateful to
organizations especially like SPRSI that eventually allowed kids to
join in the sixties and therefore created youth groups that I could
participate in and eventually, you know, as a kid, it would have been
funny and would not have meant much or people wouldn't have understand
it. But my goal was always to be Grand President of the SPRSI. It took
me til 2008 to do it, but um but I will be forever their longest
president because I served two years.
Diniz Borges: Have you um have you ever been to the homeland of your
ancestors to the Azores or to mainland Portugal?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: I did, I um a few years ago. So, it would be uh
2016. So in 2015, there's um a confraria in Portugal that looks over
the monastery where our, or my patron Queen Saint Isabel's body lies.
And they reached out to us because the monastery was in some repair.
And back in, I think 1950s, uh SPRSI paid for and used to send money
to maintain this window. It kind of fell to the wayside when we had
our merger. Everybody kind of forgot that we were sending this tithe
every year to make sure that the, the window was always in, in good
repair. So, they reached out and they found us through Facebook. So
luckily, we have Facebook these days, reached out, ran across um Angie
Brazil actually from Hanford. She reached out to me and I was like,
ok, so I reached out to them and was like, hey, you know, what are we
doing? And they're like, oh, well, we have um uh this window and you
guys presented it to us and it's in repair and we're gonna be
celebrating this um you know, the 500th anniversary of her
beautification to becoming a saint in 2018. And we'd like you to be a
part of helping us to restore it. So, we took it up and we raised the
funds, and we got it repaired. But we had the honor of going back
there and they allowed us to walk in their procession and be part of
the, the celebration that they do every even year for Saint Isabel.
And it was just so moving because the streets you know, as they say,
these are the same streets, they're not paved over with asphalt and
stuff like here, they're still the cobblestone streets and the people
as you're carrying her image, you know, they're trained to walk a
certain way so that she sways and it's walking and it's just so
majestic and I encourage everybody to go if you get a chance. So,
whether you just want to go and see it, you know, it's always around
her feast day, around Fourth of July. And just to see and all the
people that come out just for her to go into Coimbra and they take her
image from her new resting place, and they take her down to the church
and they go by her old resting place and it's just amazing. So that
was my first experience because when they said oh, we only do this
every even year. I was like, well I don't have many, even years to do
it. So, we put it together and we had a small group that went and then
I went back, and I took my godmother in 2018, that was 2016. I went
back in 2018. And because I took my godmother, we went to the Azores,
so that was my first experience with Pico, uh going to Pico.
Diniz Borges: How was that? To walk on the streets of your ancestors?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: It was.
Diniz Borges: Your great, great, grandparents.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Great, great grandparents. It was amazing, it was
to see because so much hasn't, I mean, I know things have changed. The
houses there at least some of them but not all, you know, they have
TV, they have electricity, they have, you know, cable, running water,
all those kind of things. But the architecture and when you look at
the buildings themselves or the homes themselves and just see the, the
rustic look and the appeal and it's like, you know, just to envision
their day-to-day lives. But then the, the forethought they would have
had to have as well and at least the aspirations and the, the goals
they set for themselves to actually want to leave this and go off to
somewhere that they knew nothing about that when I compare what we
have here in the valley to the island over there I mean, it's, it's
apples to oranges, you know. The, the cows still roam free over there
here, we pin them up all kinds of things.
Diniz Borges: Did the visit affect you, uh as far as your cultural
ties?
Tisha
to go
back,
often
Marie
back.
but I
as I,
Cardoza: It did, it definitely gave me a love for wanting
Um I was very disappointed with COVID that I could not go
will be going back next year. Um and I plan to go back as
I can, you know, even to the point of where, um you know,
potentially looking at uh the property there to make it you know,
maybe when I retire, you know, I can go there and, you know at least
spend more time, spend an entire summer where I don't have to work or
whatever. But, uh, definitely and, and just the feeling, you know, for
never, never having been there, my grandmother had only, only gone
once and she had gone early eighties. Um, I think right around the
time they got electricity if I remember her story, correct, at least
where she was going to visit her cousins anyways. So just, just, just
to see it and to see the, just the difference and the people you know,
they didn't know who I was, they clearly knew I was American, but just
how welcoming and inviting they were and you know, the, the food I ate
as well as just the uh you know, going to all of my, my godmother's
relatives house and, you know, they're giving you a bottle of their a
aguadent and being like okay, I need to need to slow down and seeing
their festas and seeing their festas from here. And that's why I
believe things kind of, you know, take a cycle and they come and turn.
So over there, there are no queens, there are no capes, there are no
fancy dresses. It is literally about paying um you know, paying your
homage, giving your honor to whichever saint it is. If it's Saint
Isabel, if it's Saint Anthony, bon Jesus, San Miguel, whichever saint
they have developed, uh their patronage to. That's the honor, you
know. Yes, there's flowers and there's food and there's mass. But I
think we may see here, maybe we got a little too American and you know
where, where we try to outdo one queen tries to outdo another and you
gotta have a fancier cape and you have to have a fancier dress and if
you go back there, you just realize how simplistic that the whole
thing was meant to be about just feeding the people and honoring a
saint and being thankful for what you have.
Diniz Borges: To what extent Tisha do you believe that being Portuguese
American has shaped who you are as a person?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: Oh, wow. Um you know, I, it, it'd be hard to
imagine to be anything else, but it has definitely given me uh a work
ethic that, um, you know, I have seen in, in my ancestors knowing what
they had to do to come over. So, I have a very strong work ethic uh to
my detriment based in the American culture sometimes. Um because it's
just such a passion, you can't tell a Portuguese person you can't do
something, we will show you, we can do it. And I think that's a little
different than maybe you know, some other cultures or just the
American in general culture that we have, especially with what we've
seen during these COVID times and how we see employment issues and
different things like that. You know, Portuguese people, whether it's
to milk a cow whether it's to work 9 to 5, whether it's to run a
vineyard or whatever it is, you have your job, you don't feel complete
if you're not working, you know. Um, it's just, it's just part of us.
So, I think Portuguese people have a very strong work ethic and so I
definitely see that in myself, um, as well as a love for the just the
culture, the religion. Um I think has definitely groomed me into the
person that I am. Always wanting to be successful and always wanting
to have a family tie. I mean, Portuguese people, I mean, you and I,
you know, we're cousins somehow, it's gotta be. But when we did those
again, those panels, you know, I was on one of your panels and this
woman sends me a message afterwards. Were you just on the panel with
Diniz Borges? Yeah, she goes, we're cousins and I said, great we're
cousins. She goes from Selma, the raisin people I said yes, we're the
raisin people, but it's just it's just such a family connectivity. And
I know other cultures have something similar. But my personal um
dealings with other cultures, you know, uh dealing with like my
spouse's family who is English and German you know, they don't have
that strong family tie uh that I see like on my Portuguese side, you
know, where we all gather and you may not see someone for a long time,
but if they need your help, I think that's part of the Portuguese
spirit as well. We're gonna help you. They are um you know, as far as
the culture, they're always wanting to help and probably we all get it
from Saint Isabel because she wasn't gonna let her people suffer.
We're not gonna let people suffer. We are very uh generous. So, I find
myself to be very generous, be it uh financially, be it, work, sweat.
Sweat equity as they call it. Uh I think that all comes from being
Portuguese. I think if there was, you know, if I hadn't been raised by
my Portuguese grandmother or um you know, it definitely had her
influence if I had been raised in a, you know, a more common home, so
to speak. Uh but uh I don't think I would have had those ethics and uh
we just recently had the dinner here for my my uncle, my great uncle
and I was talking to my cousin and it's looking around the room I was
explaining to her that this is the village that raised me because I
was raised by a village much like the stories I hear in the Azores. It
wasn't mom and dad that raised all their kids. Sometimes the aunt came
in, the grandparents came in. Um you know, you hear the story of there
were a lot of us. I went to go live with my aunt that had no Children.
But you were all still family and you all help like a village. So, I
was raised by a village here with my great aunts and my great uncles
because my grandma, you know, she was older, and she did her best and
I'm always grateful for what she did for me. But um she raised me the
best she could. And I am definitely the person because of her, and she
is who she was, because she knew the struggles that her mother had
with coming over and her grandfather had with coming over. So, she
never let us forget that, that foundation, those roots and it was
always about hard work, giving back to your, your culture, your
community and always helping people in need. So those are, I think are
some of my greatest uh attributes as a person and definitely come from
the Portuguese side, so to speak.
Diniz Borges: Is there anything that we didn't cover that you'd like to
add?
Tisha Marie Cardoza: No, I think uh I think we've covered it all.
Probably talk too much. You probably are good there. Um but you know,
and I appreciate the opportunity I really do. Uh like, so we're a
small community. So not many people, one know, Selma, let alone know
the hall here, know the festa here, you know, know our history, know
about us. But um you know, so I'm very grateful for the opportunity
and I also commend you and the PBBI and, and Fresno State for doing
all of this because, um I mean, you know, I'm 42 years old and this is
the first thing of, of anything like this here, you know, probably not
even just for our culture, but just in general really where you're
preserving things. And I can only imagine the people that will be
looking at this in 100 years and comparing it and to see the
similarities, you know, between my story and their story, the hall
story and where the hall is then and there and, you know, maybe the
history got lost, but someone might run across this as they're doing a
humanities course or something there at Fresno State and they're gonna
have to go to the library and pull this up and they're gonna be like,
hey, I'm from Selma. I didn't know this and it's just, it's just
great. It's all around great.
Diniz Borges: Thank you very much. Thanks.
Tisha Marie Cardoza: My pleasure.