In January 2020 I was in Salsas, near Bragança, photographing one of the last winter solstice festivities of Trás-Os-Montes. I had been around the region since Christmas, as I’d done in previous years, and was about to return south, …
The Purifying Fire
At Vila Boa, a village in the municipality of Vinhais on a slope of the Nogueira hills, the masks, bagpipes and all the things common to the pagan festivities of the Northeastern Portugal can also be found. There a festivity …
Demons of New Year
There are many Winter traditions in Trás-Os-Montes that, like so many in Europe, go all the way back to the pre-christian Winter Solstice celebrations. Without going into much details, because are too complex for me to explain well enough, these …
Festa dos Rapazes, or Young Men’s Festival – Ousilhão
On December 26, Saint Stephen day (the saint that brings this pagan festivity to the catholic realm), four young men wearing hats and colorful scarfs start the day by knocking on the houses at Ousilhão, a small village in the …
A flashback…
Today I’m getting ready to a “ritual” that now I’m getting very used to: rushing the Christmas lunch, get my things ready and packed, do the long drive that takes me to the Northeastern corner of Portugal, where the very …
Repeating a Carnival, but slowly
I’m might seem strange to put out a travel report of a Carnival photo trip, when we’re already a couple of weeks past Easter (that report is also due), but still felt the need to share this, because of its …