The community is invited to celebrate the Portuguese festival this weekend which is to include a series of performances and religious-based activities.

The annual Senhor Santo Cristo festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday at Mount Saint Agnes Academy, and all members of the public are invited to attend free of charge.

Portuguese-American musician Aristides Romeiro, a well known performer of popular Portuguese music based in Boston, will headline festivities.

Also performing are a number of local acts including In Motion School of Dance, Caroline Brown, the Vasco da Gama Folklore dancers, the Casa dos Açores Folklore dancers and AFB’s Cultural Dancers.

DJ Scoobay will provide further musical entertainment for the evening.

This year’s celebrations will begin with a Triduum of Preparation. This evening, a Holy Mass with Confession will be held at 7.30pm at St Theresa’s Cathedral.

Tomorrow, a Mass will be celebrated at 7.45pm in St Theresa’s Cathedral, during which the statue of Senhor Santo Cristo will be transferred from the chapel to the sanctuary.

MSA will then be open to the public for live entertainment from 8pm to midnight.

On Sunday at 1.30pm, a Solemn Mass will be celebrated in St Theresa’s Cathedral, followed by a procession from the cathedral, along Dundonald Street, then to Woodlands Road, to Laffan Street and back to the cathedral.

Following the procession, festivities will continue at MSA from 4.30pm to 11pm, which include a bazaar, baked goods, auction, food and beverages, and live entertainment.

A raffle draw will take place at 8pm.

A spokesman said: “Senhor Santo Cristo is an Azorean tradition that the Portuguese community has celebrated in Bermuda for many years.

“It is a religious veneration associated with an image of Jesus Christ, specifically a renaissance-style representation of the Ecce Homo, dating back to 1700 in the Azorean city of Ponta Delgada.”

Anyone wanting to purchase or sell raffle tickets can contact the Commissão Senhor Santo Cristo via e-mail at santocristobermuda@gmail.com.

The festival is jointly organised in Bermuda by the Commissão Senhor Santo Cristo, the Vasco da Gama Club and the Portuguese Cultural Association.