Cape Verdean Passover Seder in Boston

The fifth annual Cape Verdean-Jewish Seder was held at the St. Patrick’s Church in Roxbury, on March 24, 2010 to bring together the two communities. Over 200 included a mix of Jews and Cape Verdeans. Attorney Thiadora A. Pina, an associate at the Law Office of Neil Burns, is Vice President of the Board of Directors for CVC Unido – Cape Verdean Community Unity, and was an organizer of the community event. The Cape Verdean Consulate General was the guest speaker.

Photo of Attorney Seder
Attorney Seder

Attorney Thiadora Pina and a fellow volunteer register guests at the fifth annual Cape Verdean-Jewish Seder in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

The Cape Verdean – Jewish Seder is a new ritual which celebrates the commonalities of the two groups; histories of enslavement and liberation, far-flung Diasporas, challenges of immigration to the United States, an heritages of prevailing over tremendous hardships. Many folks do not know, but for a period when Cape Verde was a Portuguese colony, Jews facing oppression in Portugal, during Inquisition, fled to Cape Verde in the 15th and 16th centuries. Apparently, the groups intermarried and ceased to exist separately.