Heritage in feast! Feast of God’s Body (Festa do Corpo de Deus), in Penafiel. Exploring the Municipal Museum and the traditions of the village of Quintandona.
The session on the 15th of June, took place at Penafiel, which was holding a secular religious tradition, celebrating God’s Body. It started early in the morning with a visit to the Municipal Museum. At the museum, the group was introduced to and explored information and objects related to cultural traditions of the community. Many of them disappeared but others are preserved in places like Quintandona, a village about 15km away from Penafiel, to where the group went, afterwards.
Quintandona has a unique architecture and rural landscape. Once in the area, the youth group had the chance to visit the workshop of a blacksmith, who still exercises the practice using the traditional tools and techniques. He demonstrated the use of the forge, hammer and anvil and taught the young ones some tricks. Hard but beautiful work!
After this insightful experience, the group visited the village and had a traditional lunch in a traditional house. Had also the chance to gather with old ladies, who told some stories about their lives in the village and what they used to do. Precious memories! Some traditions were remembered also by the local theater group who, with masks they make, interacted and interpreted activities of typical days in old times. At the theater, the group learned how to make the masks and got to know better about the project that the community undertook to restore and maintain their village and to attract young people to stay, in order to preserve it. Members of different ages participate; from juveniles to seniors. The group met the community leaders and met their association, the Casa do Xiné.
The group also met some ladies from the village, who shared some traditional ways of cooking the caldo, a special, heavy soup that farmers eat, especially in winter, of baking bread and pão-de-ló, a much appreciated traditional cake. The architecture of the ovens and tools they used were like those the group saw and explored at the museum.
After a good cup of coffee and a slice of the delicious pão-de-ló, the team got back to Penafiel, to see the procession, in which some members of the local community group participated, to feel the spirit, ear the bands and have to fun together.