Special Occasions in Portugal
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Portuguese Foods and Culture
PORTUGUESE SPECIAL OCCASIONS
The predominant religion of Portugal is Roman Catholic.
Every town has its special legends. saints, and festivities concerning
every aspect of the seasons, the land, family occasions, and religion. In
fine weather almost anything becomes excuse enough for a family outing
that probably includes relatives, neighbors, and ample provisions of fresh
breads, cheeses, cured hams, cold roasted chickens, boned and stuffed
suckling pigs, salted herrings, and of course huge wicker-covered jugs of
fine homemade or local wines.
Everything wild in Portugal is usually called "brave" or "royal" so a
gathering that later turns into a party hut is ostensibly for the purpose
of branding young bulls may be called fcsta brava; while a dish of wild
duck may be called paw real, recalling the days when all wild game was
strictly for royalty to enjoy. It is well to remember that the Portuguese
brava does not mean "brave" but "wild." Sometimes Portuguese may refer in
faltering English to a young girl as being "brave" when they really mean
that her dress and manner indicate her to be "wild" - at least by
Portuguese standards, which tend to be conservative.
Any part of outdoor work that requires several hands is also turned into a
special occasion. Gathering olives or grapes, shucking fresh corn,
treading grapes for wine, in fact most rural jobs that others may consider
simply as work, the Portuguese turn into a pleasure by working and
singing, enjoying a meal of perhaps broa and caldo verde, then finishing
with extra wine, sweets, and much music and dance.
An example of this is the esfolhadc, the party for corn shucking. With
everyone in best clothes, the work proceeds seriously enough until someone
finds a cob of red corn and then the fun begins: the lucky holder of the
red cob gets to kiss all the ladies present, or vice versa.
Incidentally corn is an important crop in Portugal, hut not just for
reasons of fun or food. The thinnings are fed to the cattle, coarsest
stalks are used to bed cattle while the emptied cobs are saved and dried
to use as fuel.
In the summer months, especially in the North, there is an almost
continuous round of fairs and special pilgrimages called ronwrios. Church
services and processions are interspersed with feasting, singing and
dancing, ornate decorations and often fireworks.
One of the more interesting festivals, the Feast of Tabitleiros, is held
every three to five years in the town of Tomar. Girls march in processions
with huge layered headdresses made of loaves of bread decorated with wheat
sheaves, flowers, and ribbons. The clergy follow bearing richly decorated
silver crowns on small black pillows and several young bullocks bring up
the end. Liter the cattle are slaughtered and portions of meat and breads
from the headdresses are distributed to the poor of the area.
Country fairs sell everything from pottery and ribbons to boots and
donkeys, hut the most celebrated of all is the Feast of St. Martin held in
mid-November in Golega. It is a horse fair and a national occasion, a
spectacle of Lisbon sociedade, visiting dignitaries and royalty, army
horsemen, cal,- alheiros who fight the hulls on horseback, and the great
horse breeders of Ribatejo and Alentejo, dressed in their special attire
of trim gray jacket and trousers and the wide gray flat-brimmed hats. Each
group dresses in its finest, with the horses prancing in their best manner
and everyone there to see everyone else. Nearby dining rooms are ready
with fine foods and wine always on tap.
All Saints' Day, November 1, always brings with it memories of that same
day in 1755 when almost three-quarters of Lisbon crumbled in a brief but
violent earthquake. Then as now it is a solemn day set aside for quiet
church services and memorials for all who died. After services, street
vendors sell broas dos santos, saints' cakes and other sweets, a brief
reminder of the sweeter side of life.
