Império do Divino Espírito Santo

The impérios [Small Temples] are buildings aimed for the exhibition of elements of the Holy Spirit’s cult, namely the crown, the banner and the staffs. Unlike what happens in other parishes and localities of São Jorge, in the case of Toledo, there is no tradition of serving the famous soups of the Holy Spirit. Here, on the Sunday of the Holy Spirit, the bolos de véspera, wine, cheese and lupins are offered. The wine and the lupins start being distributed in the festivity after the mass. The cakes and cheese are distributed in the afternoon, in the “vésperas” hour, an hour announced at the end of the mass. At that time, a group of men with the cakes, cheese, wine and lupins leave the small temple and, firstly, travel to the houses of individuals who were widowed less than a year ago. Only then the distribution in the festivity is carried out and, before, at lunch time, they had already gone to the houses of the individuals who, for some reason, could not bring wine to the festivity. In Toledo, the greatest day of the week, either of the Trinity or of the Holy Spirit, is the Thursday, the day in which the lupins are boiled and the mordomo offers lunch to all brothers and guests of the small temple.