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A Sense of Pride and Joy
By Robert Roliz
The most amazing
thing happened to me during my recent Encontro trip in Macau.
My heart started to melt when I realized this Encontro Macau 2007
was no ordinary get-together but an extraordinary opportunity.
An opportunity to meet other Macaneses from around the world, to
learn the Macanese way of life, and to find out why it is vital to keep
our “Roots” alive!
I must confess,
being a native teenager of Hong Kong who adopted the American way of
life in the San Francisco Bay Area the last 30 years, I never imagined I
could have such a thirst for knowledge of my ancestors’ past in Macau.
I had no previous agenda except to meet some of my long-lost
cousins and have a good time with all the other proud Macanese
participants. But instead,
what I got was much more than I could ever dream of…a great sense of
“Pride and Joy” in a land our forefathers or ancestral parents once
walked on and called “Home”!
My recent personal
interest and curiosity of my own family tree history (or genealogy) may
have given me an initial boost to pursue more about my Macanese history,
culture, and heritage. But
when I entered Macau, I got the impression of being closer to “Home”
where our Macanese roots began and I wanted to know more about what it
is like to truly be Macanese and what life was like in the old days. I’m
proud to say I’m a 3rd,
4th,
and 5th
generation Macanese from at least three of my ancestors (my grandfather
Joaquim Prudêncio Gonçalves Roliz, my great grandmother Maria Esperança,
and my great-great grandfather Joaquim Jose Collaço) who were all born
in Macau in the 1800s.
I felt very honored
to have had the opportunity to experience, witness and share this
special and joyful get-together with all the Macanese (of European
and Asian descent)
around the globe (mainly from the
different clubs from USA, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Portugal, Macau and
Hong Kong) right here at “Home”.
Thanks to Jorge
Forjaz (with “Familias Macaenses”) and Henry D’ Assumpcão (with my large
family tree report), I was able to find and connect with 15 more of my
30 or so cousins at this last Encontro Macau 2007.
It was definitely the most unbelievable and exciting experience I
ever felt since beginning my family tree research two years ago.
I felt really good about myself and was extremely proud to be
reunited with my large family (from my immediate family to my 1st,
2nd,
3rd,
4th,
5th,
and beyond), especially in Macau where our Macanese roots came to life!
It is here that I
was able to experience “what life was like” from some of the many
educational, historical, cultural, entertaining events I otherwise would
not have had the opportunity to experience without the gracious support
of the organizing committee and everyone else involved. Some of my
personal highlights are the “Patua Show”, “Armando Santos”, and “Ruins
of St. Paul”.
The “Patua Show”, at
the Macau Tower, was a definite “eye-opening” theatrical performance for
me to the already fading original Macanese dialect.
The music performance by Armando Santos on keyboard, at the Roman
Amphitheater, with his singing rendition of Macau in a similar patua
voice was a soothing twist to the foreign language one used to hear.
“Patua”, considered an endangered language by many, is said to be
a “Portuguese mixture of Chinese with words in Malay, Canarim, and a
bit of Spanish”. But as
new generations emerges, new words or bits of other languages will most
likely add to the sweet language of Macau. (Jennifer Welker, “The New
Macau”, China-Link Publishing (Macau) Ltd. 2005, pg. 172).
Even though I missed
the infamous group photo shoot at Ruins of St. Paul by minutes, it is
one of my personal favorite historical sites, once a church in 1565
known as “Mater Dei”, or Big São Paulo. It was also refered to as
a religious institution, to train missionaries heading for Japan and
China, which later was elevated to become “the first Western College in
Asia that promoted cultural exchange between China and the West”.
(Jennifer Welker, “The New Macau”, China-Link Publishing
(Macau) Ltd. 2005, pg. 122, 201).
It is on these very steps that I hold a special and dear memory
with my beloved father Rigo during our last Encontro 2004.
For some strange
reason, my intention was to take photos of my family, friends and
cousins the minute my flight landed at the HK International Airport but
in the process I developed an obsession with smiling faces.
I felt compelled to capture, with my camera, those magical
moments floating around in the air during some of the Encontro events
that seem so special and nostalgic especially to so many Macanese who
was born and raised in Macau and/or Hong Kong (a nearby City).
Some have not been back to their hometown or seen their old
friends for a while. It was
a definite heart-warming moment for me to see and hear them get in-touch
within themselves, meet new friends and renew old-friendships.
I have never felt so
much love in the air even with complete strangers; it was just so
intoxicating! It may be that
I was at the right place at the right time.
It was just so exciting for me to see so many of this year’s
participants smile and laugh with so much enthusiasm up close and
personal.
With a child-like
innocence, I was totally stupefied and in-love with all my old and
newfound friends and cousins that I felt helplessly attracted to their
presence and company. My
heart was just burning with desire! It was just so nice and warm!
Every morning, I
would have this uncontrollable urge to wake up to the daily breakfast
ritual at the Beverly Hotel, where I was staying, just to see some of
the early risers from our Lusitano group smile into a photo.
It made my heart sing!
It was just so exhilarating!
And as the days went
on, with my camera in ready-mode, I would wait for each photo
opportunity to present itself.
And when it did, I would carry-on my new social attitude and
outgoing personality (quite contrary to my introverted nature), and
approach my subjects before the magical moments passed me by.
It quickly became a passion for me that required full-time job
attention to the daily events posted on a White Board at the lobby of
the Beverly Hotel. But it
was hard to keep up with the many anxious and energetic sightseers or
tourists with a past here, yearning to absorb the many opportunities
(things to do and places to go & see) available in Macau.
If I wasn’t so
exhausted from the long flight from San Francisco, I would have
continued on my journey to meet and greet the other arriving overseas
Macaneses at the welcome reception at the Portuguese School of Macau
that same evening. It would
have been so much fun just to see them smile and reunite as “one
identity”.
I’m so proud to have
had the pleasure again to meet Antonio M. Pacheco Jorge da Silva (aka, “Toneco”),
a Macanese who is deeply rooted in our ancestral past in Macau, at the
Macau Dome for his recent new book release of
“The Portuguese Community in Hong Kong”.
A pictorial history book that focuses on the “Macanese identity”
in Hong Kong during the early years in 1841 when the children of our
Macanese parents created yet another chapter of their lives while others
move on to the rest of the world for a new start.
It will most certainly bring back good memories, with the many
familiar faces and stories behind those faces, for many of us who were
part of the Portuguese community in Hong Kong.
I am so pleased to have gotten the chance to get a glimpse into
the past with the many wonderful photos and stories written about some
of the Macanese people in the last 5 of my generations (from my
great-great grandfather’s time).
I’m greatly indebted to Toneco for helping me understand that
part of our history (whether it is the residences we live in; the
schools and clubs we went to; or just the music and food we all enjoyed)
in Hong Kong that is so important and personal to me. Not only was it
“my place of birth”, it was “my home sweet home”!
The opportunities
seemed endless if we were to really allow ourselves to sit back, relax
and enjoy the unique cultural environment while we are in Macau.
You will undoubtedly find something precious (i.e. monuments,
temples, churches, museums, cemeteries, old schools, or simply old
family stories) related to our past despite the ever-changing tradition
in our customs, dialects and the new way of life with one country and
two systems. One tradition
that doesn’t seem to change is gaming for tourist of thrill seekers.
Gaming Casinos seem to be a major moneymaker for Macau especially
when “Sands” came to town and helped boost the economy in 2004.
(Jennifer Welker, “The New Macau”, China-Link Publishing (Macau) Ltd.
2005, pg. 21).
Coming to this
Encontro Macau 2007 has given me a new perspective and a much more
positive attitude.
I am proud to be
Macanese and a member of Lusitano Club of California who has been trying
so hard to keep the preservation of our roots their mission to pass on
to the younger and future generations.
I hope the newly formed “Youth Group” from among all the
different clubs around the world in this recent Encontro will carry on
the torch for us all into the bright future before we lose the link or
connection to our past! It’s been exciting for me and I hope it will be
for others as they keep their roots alive!
I like to thank
everyone (including my newfound friends and cousins) for making my trip
"Encontro Macau 2007" so satisfying, exciting, friendly and fun.
It was just simply “out of this world” amazing! Long Live Macau!
God Bless their children (both in Macau and Overseas)!
(Reprinted from Lusitano Bulletin, Winter/Spring 2008)
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