Four-year-old Angelina Santos, of North Providence, proclaimed Mini Miss Day of Portugal, walks with her mother to the State House to take her place in the Day of Portugal parade. At left, Troy Martins, 13, of Attleboro, eyes a ship cutout that lists one of Portugal’s colonial acquisitions over the centuries.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE — That Portuguese-Americans, of all Rhode Island’s many immigrant groups, have one of the strongest bonds with their traditions, heritage and language was underscored again yesterday, as several thousand thronged the streets of Providence for a colorful parade commemorating the 30th anniversary celebration of a Day of Portugal in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island has been a destination for Portuguese immigrants since the 17th century. While Portuguese Rhode Islanders are proud of their contributions to the state and of assimilation as Americans, the links to the old country are still strong for many of the roughly 100,000 state citizens who listed Portuguese as their ethnicity in the 2000 U.S. Census.

“This is a community that has always been very clear about the value of assimilation,” said Marie Fraley, of West Warwick, whose grandparents came from Portugal in the 1920s. “But it also a community that has many people who immigrated as recently as the 1970s, and so the immigrant experience is still very fresh for them.”

Yesterday, the Portuguese respect for tradition and love of celebration merged in a parade that for the first time in many years began with a ceremony on the State House steps, wound through downtown streets and ended at the Bank of America plaza, where the sweet smell of grilled chourico and peppers merged with the aroma of hot dogs and hamburgers.

More than 40 groups marched in the parade, including delegations from Our Lady of Fatima Church, in Cumberland, the Madeira Club, in Central Falls, the Cranston Portuguese Club, the Holy Ghost Society of West Warwick, Grupo Amigos, of Pawtucket, and Escola Portuguesa, of Cumberland.

Luis DaSilva, of Cumberland, who came to Rhode Island from Portugal in 1980, says it is important to him that his children learn the customs and history of his native land. He has two sons, ages 15 and 19, and he wants to ensure that they do not forget their heritage.

“My sons are first generation here and we think it is important that they know the language,” said DaSilva, a manfacturing supervisor. “They have family in Portugal we visit every year, and we want them to be able to speak in their language.”

Fernanda Silva is the director of the Escola Portuguesa, in Cumberland, founded in 1929 to teach the children of immigrants Portuguese language and customs. Today it has more than 100 students and is the oldest Portuguese school of its kind in New England.

“We want our children to know their roots and be proud of their heritage,” Silva said.

Portuguese settlement in Rhode Island began in Newport during Colonial times. Perhaps the most famous Portuguese immigrant in Newport was Aaron Lopez, who was born in Lisbon in 1731. After coming to Newport in 1752, he was instrumental in helping to build the Touro Synagogue, the oldest extant synagogue in the United States.

In the 1840s and 1850s, Portuguese fishermen were recruited by the whaling industry and settled in such port communities as Warren, Bristol, Providence — especially the Fox Point neighborhood — and Newport.

Between the 1880s and early 1920s, the textile loom replaced the whaling harpoon, as thousands of Portuguese immigrants went to work in the state’s factories. The Fabre Line steamships regularly brought Portuguese immigrants to Providence.

When Patrick Kennedy first ran for the U.S. House from the 1st District, in 1994, then-U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell pulled him aside and gave him some advice. Portuguese-American voters, Pell told Kennedy, were the “sleeping political giant of the East Bay.”

It is advice that Kennedy says he has never forgotten. (Kennedy’s father, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, has also been a proponent of increased Portuguese immigration.)

Portuguese-American political clout was on display yesterday, too. Sen. Daniel DaPonte, D-East Providence, spoke to the crowd, and Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, was honorary grand marshal of the parade. She spoke at the State House ceremony, saying it was important for Portuguese to honor their forebears.

“We must remember the struggles of our ancestors,” said Paiva Weed, the first female Senate majority leader in the state’s history. “Through hard work and perseverance, the Portuguese became a prominent cultural force here in Rhode Island. They first worked as laborers, but before long were business owners, teachers and politicians.”

smackay@projo.com