Festivals in Portugal - Festas
Saints, Miracles and Magic - Portugal's rich heritage of local festas,
romarias and carnaval
There is probably a festival of some sort going on every day somewhere
in Portugal.
Attending a traditional festival (festa) is a great way for any
visitor to Portugal to absorb something of Portuguese popular culture
and get to know better the local people and their way of life.
Portugal's strong Catholic heritage, allied to the many local pagan
customs which were integrated into the average person's religious convictions,
has lead to a popular culture rich in a firm belief for many Portuguese
in saints, miracles, lucky charms, healing springs, shrines, offerings,
magic, cults and superstition.
The cult of Our Lady of
Fatima and the locating of the Knights
Templar in Tomar show the strength of local support for people
on the fringes of orthodox Catholicism. Even today, in the pilgrimage
season May-October, thousands of pilgrims line the roads to Fatima,
just outside Leiria, to pay their
respects to the Virgin, who appeared to three children in May 1917.
Every town and village in Portugal has a patron saint, whose saint's
day is celebrated with gusto by the whole community, thus fostering a
sense of communal identity and local pride, long lost in many other parts
of Europe. The main themes of these festas is a procession of
a statue of the patron saint after Mass from the local church, accompanied
by fireworks, music, dancing and joyous merrymaking involving copious
consumption of wine.
Portugal is not just about traditional festivals - new ones are springing
up all the time. Especially film, music and food festivals, often sponsored
by local authorities to boost local tourism.
We have tried to list the major festivals throughout Portugal but no
list can be exhaustive so please check with local tourist
offices and our Portugal city guides
for further details.
Portugal Festival Calendar
January
Epiphany
A cake in the shape of a king's crown bolo rei is traditionally
eaten.
The Festa das Fogaceiras held annually on January 20 in Santa
Maria da Feira sees young girls in traditional dress carrying castle-shaped fogaças cakes
on their heads to give thanks for good health.
February/March
Carnaval
Portugal as a whole celebrates carnival but there are famous more Rio-style
carnival processions with floats, music and costumes in Lisbon,
Loule,
Nazare
and Viana
do Castelo.
The Fantasporto International Film Festival is one of Portugal's
oldest and longest running film festivals.
March
The town of Beja holds a nine-day agricultural festival with
music, food and handicrafts.
The Feira de Março in Aveiro from
late March to late April is an historic festival now featuring folk and
rock concerts.
March/April
The Senhor Ecce Homo festival in Braga is
an Easter festival with barefoot, torch-bearing, hooded penitants in
a spooky procession through the town.
In Porto on
Passion Sunday (the second Sunday prior to Easter) there is a procession
near the church of Nossa Senhora da Esperanca. Effigies of Judas are
burnt around the cathedral on Easter Day.
May
The Fatima romaris (pilgrimage) is held in Fatima to
commemorate the anniversay of the apparition of the Virgin Mary.
The lively Festas das Cruzes is held over a week in Barcelos with
a procession and handicraft fair.
Faro hosts an international music
festival through May/June.
Early May sees the civic festival of Santa Joanna, held in honor
of the royal princess Joana, who retired to Aveiro's
convent (now a museum) in the 15th century.
The Queima das Fitas is a drink-filled festival in Coimbra when
the town's students go mad with parades, fado and the burning of gowns.
June
The Corpo de Deus (Corpus Christi) festival with processions
is celebrated all over the country.
The Festa de Santo Antonio in Lisbon celebrates
the 'saint of love' with newly-wed couples giving thanks and singles
praying for a match made in heaven - usually around June 13..
The Festa de Sao Joao (John the Baptist) is big in Porto, Aveiro and Braga on
June 23-24. In Porto there are large parties with people being hit on
the head with harmless plastic hammers; in Braga expect to see dancing,
illuminations, folk dramas, poems to loved ones in pots of basil, music
and processions.
In Santerem a 10-day Feira Nacional da Agricultura in
the first week of June has horse-racing, bullfights and bull-running
in the streets.
Rock in Rio-Lisbon is a huge rock festival, touted as the world's
largest music festival, held annually at the Parque the Bela Vista in Lisbon attracting
some of the biggest names in popular music.
The Festa de São Gonçalo in Amarante witnesses
a large procession with single people exchanging phallic-shaped cakes
as love tokens.
Setubal hosts
an international film festival - Festroia - in June.
The Festa de Sao Pedro (Saint Peter) is celebrated in Porto on
June 29 with music dancing and processions.
Porto hosts
a beer festival at the Jardim do Passeio Alegre, Foz do Douro.
Fundao, famous for its cherries, holds a "cherry festival" in
June with guided tours to cherry orchards and local restaurants showcasing
cherry recipes.
July
The Festa do Colete Encanado held in Vila Franca de Xira has
bull-running in the streets similar to the more famous festival in Spain's
Pamplona with drunken youth running the bulls through the town's narrow
streets.
Estoril's world
famous classical music festival runs through July and August and is simultaneous
with the town's Handicrafts Fair.
Held every four years in Tomar (on
the first weekend of the month - next in 2007, 2011 etc) the pagan-inspired Festa
dos Tabuleiros sees a procession of young girls, dressed in white,
balancing large trays of bread and wheat on their heads.
The third weekend of June is time for the Rallye Biker in Faro -
one of Europe's biggest biker meets with rock music and a parade of motorbikes
through the streets of Faro.
Aveiro celebrates
its historic heritage of painted boats - moliceiros - mid-July
to mid-August with races and general merrymaking.
The Vilar de Mouros music festival in Caminha hosts top-notch
rock bands from around the world at the end of the month.
Barcelos hosts the Festival de Folclore on the last Saturday
of the month with traditional singing and dancing.
August
The Romaria da Nossa Senhora da Agonía (Our Lady of Sorrows)
held in Viana
do Castelo around August 20 includes an impressive parade of floats,
displays of local crafts, carnival giants (gigantones), local
music, nightly fireworks and lots of drinking.
The Festas Gualterianas (St Walter) has been held in Guimaraes on
the first weekend of August since 1452.
The Festa Sao Bartolomeu held in Porto (Sunday
after August 24) sees a procession of puppets and a healthy plunge in
the sea at Foz do Douro.
Lisbon's Ocean
Festival celebrates the city's links with the high seas with boat
races and numerous special events.
The Week of the Sea Festival in Horta on the island
of Faial in the Azores is a 7-day festa of marine sports and traditional
whaling boat regattas held in mid-month.
The Rio Formosa Festival in the Cathedral square of Faro is
a latter-day, civic seafood and beer festival focused on the need to
preserve the area's Rio Formosa lagoon.
The festival of Our Lady of Seafarers in Cascais sees
images of saints carried through the town's streets and then on to fishing
boats - also bullrunning, music, fireworks and lots of food.
The Feira de Sao Mateus in Viseu takes place from mid-August
to its climax on September 21 (Dia do Sao Mateus). There are bullfights,
fado and folk dancing at this agricultural fair.
The Festas de N.S. dos Remedios takes place in Lamego from
the end of August to mid-September.
September
The Festas do Sao Paio in early September in Aveiro features
a traditional boat race on the northern lagoon.
The last Sunday of the month sees Porto's Nossa
Senhora do Ó - a procession in honor of the pregnant Virgin
beginning at the church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade do Cais.
Ponte de Lima's Feiras Novas (New Fairs) is an ancient 3-day
affair dating from 1125 with music, dancing, processions and general
merry-making.
Held in on the first Sunday of the month in Tomar the Nossa
Senhora de Piedade sees a candle-lit procession of decorated floats.
The festival of Nossa Senhora da Nazre Romaria (September 8)
is the biggest festival in Nazare.
Expect to see a serios religious procession, bullfights and folk dancing
in the evenings.
Leiria hosts
a Festival de Gastronomia in early September with food stalls
and folk dancing.
Elvas hosts the Festas do Senhor da Piedade and the Feira
de Sao Mateus in late September
October
October 12-13 sees the second large annual pilgrimage to Fatima to
celebrate the 'Miracle of the Sun' of 1913.
The Feira de Santa Iria in Faro is
the town's largest traditional festa held in the middle of the month.
Lagos celebrates its connection
with Portugal's maritme past with the Festa dos Descobrimentos (Festival
of the Discoveries) with processions (late October/early November) in
period costume through the town's streets.
Late October to early November The National Gastronomic Festival in Santarem.
The festival began in 1980 and each day of the event is dedicated to
a region and its food culture.
November
All Soul's Day (All Saints' Day) is a national holiday and celebrated
often with processions across the country on November 1.
Golega Ribatejo hosts the Feira de Sao Martinho with bullfighting,
horse parades and general bonhomie.
December
Independence Day, a public holiday on December 1, is usually
celebrated with fireworks and joyous parties.
Dia do Natal (Christmas Day) on December 25 is a family festival
with a tradition of burning an Xmas oak log to ensure good fortune.
Vespera de Ano Novo (New Year's Eve) is celebrated nationwide
with fireworks, music and, as in Spain, the eating of 12 grapes as the
clocks strike midnight. Lisbon's noted party is out near the tower in Belem.
If you know of a festival not listed here, please contact
Portugal Visitor with the details.
National Holidays
New Years Day - January 1
Carnaval Tuesday (February or March) - the day before Ash Wednesday
Easter Good Friday (March or April)
Liberty Day - April 25 to celebrate the 1974 revolution
Labor Day - May 1
Corpus Christi (May or June) - the ninth Thursday after Easter
Portugal Day (Camoes/Community Day) - June 10
Assumption - August 15
Republic Day - October 5 commemorates the declaration of the
Portuguese republic in 1910
All Saints' Day - November 1
Independence Day - December 1 celebrates the 1640 restoration
of independence from Spain
Immaculate Conception - December 8
Christmas Day - December 25
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