Carnival is a fun party with many traditions in several countries. But how do you celebrate Carnival in Portugal?
Unlike other places in the world, Carnival in Portugal is celebrated mainly in small villages. Let’s find out some examples:
Entrudo Race – The Schist Villages Carnival
The chanfana is a dish for a hearty lunch on Fat Tuesday, but even so, the Entrudo Race in the Schist Villages, in the middle of the Serra da Lousã, is still being done. Picking up clothes and old objects that are no longer used, the departure for the Corrida do Entrudo goes to the villages of the municipality of Góis, where everything is allowed. From blocks and verses, whose themes are closely linked to the daily lives of the inhabitants of Schist Villages, to the games played by the elders, and to the rattle of women and younger men, everyone who participates in it must wear masks made of cork and natural elements, which include horrifying and diabolical expressions.
Canas de Senhorim – A Carnival rivalry
A rivalry with more than 400 years dictates that two neighborhoods of Canas de Senhorim, Paço and Rossio, parade in disarray. The two carnival marches take to the streets first, singing songs from old marches and wearing facts alluding to Canas de Senhorim’s past. In the great carnival parade on Tuesday of Carnival, wins the one that celebrates with more joy all the devotion for your neighborhood.
The 2nd Carnival Fair is divided between the Farinhada, in which the girls who leave the house until noon are at risk of being “floured”, and the Monday of the Old Women, during the afternoon.
The Carnival ends on the 4th Ash Fair, with the Queima do Entrudo. After Batatada, the community dinner whose main dish is cod with potatoes, eggs, vegetables, bread and wine, the clown from Entrudo is taken through the streets thus making the farewell to Carnival.
Torres Vedras –
The first reference to the Torres Carnival appears in the reign of D. Sebastião, in a document dated 1574, in which a resident of the town of Torres Vedras lodges a complaint “against young men playing with a rooster Entrudo day bringing rounds, swords, sticks as they usually do “.
Reis do Carnaval and “Matrafonas”, so characteristic of Corso Carnavalesco, first appeared in the 1920s, decisively marking the history of the Torres Vedras Carnival, and assuming an eminently popular charisma, by rejecting external costumes.
A different theme each year, with the construction of a real carnival village, and floats.
For many, this is the most “Portuguese of Portugal” Carnival.
Loulé – The Algarve Carnival
The oldest Carnival in the Algarve is over 100 years old
The entertainment starts in the morning reserved for the children’s parade, and the Grand Première de Carnaval is scheduled for Monday night, in the Salão de Festas de Loulé.
Corso Carnavalesco fills the streets of this Algarve city on “fat Sunday” and on Carnaval Tuesday, with the parade of floats and extras that spread doses of contagious joy, and confetti and streamers mixed through the air.
