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, …
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 …
Winter solstice in Trás-Os-Montes
Every time I leave Trás-Os-Montes (the region in the northeast of Portugal) I leave overwhelmed, with all the warmth and generosity I get from the people in that cold forgotten corner of the country. Sometimes I feel that’s where my …