After a five-year recess, the Brazilian-Portuguese Student Association resumed activity on Jan. 28.

The original association, founded in the mid-1970s, disbanded in 1993 due to lack of leadership. The original group, the Portuguese Speaking Union, changed its name to the Brazilian Student Association before its demise.

Iowa State graduate students Renato Silva and Felicidade Van Acker, who are president and vice president, respectively, are primarily responsible for restarting the group.

“I came to Ames [from Brazil] in June of this year,” Silva said. “I was given a list of student associations but didn’t find one from Brazil, so I started talking to people about forming a Portuguese association.”

Silva and Van Acker started talking seriously about forming an association shortly after International Week in November.

“He invited me [to help him] if I was interested,” Van Acker said. “I said yes because during International Week, I was representing my country [Portugal] alone.”

One goal of the Brazilian-Portuguese Student Association is to promote the culture of Portuguese-speaking countries and regions from around the world on the ISU campus.

“Portuguese is the 8th most-spoken language in the world,” Silva said. “Brazil is the only country in the Americas that speaks Portuguese.”

Another goal of the association is to provide an opportunity for Portuguese-speaking students and faculty to socialize.

The association has various activities planned for this semester to expose their culture to the ISU community.

They plan to have a “Carnival” party, to participate in the Veishea food fair and to have folklore events, including a dance, music and costumes.

Carnival will be the biggest event hosted so far by the Brazilian-Portuguese Student Association. Like the French celebration Mardi Gras, Carnival is celebrated throughout Portuguese regions of the world, particularly in Brazil.

Brazil is commonly called “The Land of Carnival” because it plays host to the celebration once a year.

Anthropologist Richard G. Parker’s definition of Carnival is “that in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, there still exists a time and place where complete freedom is possible.”

Carnival has been used as a setting in movies such as “Black Orpheus” and the James Bond flick “Moonraker.”

“Carnival is subverting the order and being completely crazy before the seriousness of Lent,” Van Acker said.

The party is traditionally held just before Ash Wednesday in the beginning of the Christian Lent season.

The Brazilian-Portuguese Student Association will host Carnival, and members hope to make it an annual event in the future.

The party will be held at the Long Shot, 2900 West St., on Feb. 28, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $3.

The association currently has around 45 members.

“We have American members and even a Belgian member,” Van Acker said.

The fee to join the Brazilian-Portuguese Student Association is $5. Meetings are held in Agronomy Hall, and everyone is welcome to join.