The Império do Espírito Santo da Praça Velha, also known as Império do Espírito Santo do Caminho do Concelho dos Biscoitos, is located in the parish of Biscoitos, municipality of Praia da Vitória, located in Largo Francisco Maria Brum, of that parish.
It is a century-old property, whose construction dates back to the end of the 3rd quarter of the 19th century, namely to the year 1872. This brotherhood, which has a pantry and the so-called meat house, celebrates the feast of the Divine Holy Spirit on Sundays of Pentecost and Trinity.
This empire, like the others existing on Terceira Island and the Azores, continues to promote and celebrate the feast of the Holy Spirit, whose festive program has two aspects: one of a markedly religious nature and the other of a sociocultural nature.
As part of the festive programs of the bodos, on Saturday mornings meat is distributed throughout the parish and in the afternoon, after mass, meat is distributed only to the brothers of the empire.
On Bodo Sundays, processions of the Holy Spirit are organized, accompanied by a philharmonic, from the houses of the emperors to the church, where a festive coronation mass is celebrated, at the end of which the processions return to the empire, followed by the blessing of the bread and wine that are later distributed by the people present at the bodo.
Once this stage is concluded, the emperors may or may not offer lunch, called a function, to their guests, which consists of soup, stew, rump, rice pudding, bread, pasta sovada, wine and juices.
In the afternoon, the butlers set tables with some appetizers, sovada pasta, drained fava beans, lupins, etc. In the space where the bodo takes place, so that people can go snacking and living with each other.
In the camps, concerts by philharmonic bands are heard, auctions are made, the proceeds of which revert to the empire and on Pentecost Sunday night, the Sundays for the following year are raffled off.
On Trinity Sunday, also at the end of the feast, stewards are appointed for the next year. On Pentecost and Trinity Mondays, bread and wine are distributed to the houses of the brothers, who paid for the brotherhoods.
Source: http://roteirodesazores.com/festa/imperio-do-caminho-do-concelho/