Portuguese-American Hats

Portuguese immigration to New England began in the early 1800s with whaling, and about 1.3 million Americans now claim Portuguese ancestry, roughly a quarter of them in California, 22 percent in Massachusetts and 7 percent in Rhode Island. Fall River has the densest concentration in the country at 43.9 percent. Each summer the community turns out for its feasts: the Great Feast of the Holy Ghost at Kennedy Park in Fall River, running since 1986 and opening with a rosary and the blessing and serving of soups, and the four-day Feast of the Blessed Sacrament at Madeira Field in New Bedford. These hats are the in-group's own jokes. The badges are PORTUGUESE, SAUDADE and AZOREAN, with LUSO-AMERICAN, FALL RIVER PORTUGUESE and NEW BEDFORD PORTUGUESE for those who know where they are from. I'M PORTUGUESE NOT SPANISH answers the sign one writer says Portuguese Americans feel compelled to pin to their shirts. I KNOW 365 WAYS TO COOK BACALHAU nods to the cod that is expected on the Christmas table, and MY CHOURIÇO ARRIVES ON FIRE comes from the real habit of roasting the sausage in a dish of flaming alcohol. SWEET BREAD IS MY CURRENCY is for anyone who has been paid in loaves. Linguiça versus chouriço is a debate for another hat. Every design is custom embroidered on an unstructured dad hat. The bacalhau and chouriço lines each come in two colorways.