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, return home. As I was saying goodbye to André, and told him that we would meet again later in the year, he told, in a warm and direct way so typical of those from that part of the country, that he would be waiting for me and made sure to tell me that this year it would be great, that it would be really brutal (and I do not use this word in vain). I have some pre-pandemic and pre-confinement moments that became crystallized in my mind, this is one of those…

André is one of the Caretos de Grijó de Parada. If there is one thing in common all the different winter festivities in that region (and in fact there are less than it seems) is that there are always one or more people who are their driving force, André is one of those people. And what he was talking about was the Young Men’s Festival, or St. Stephen Festival (the Catholic name for such a pagan tradition): a tradition that dates back to ancient pagan fertility rituals, which takes place every year in the days after Christmas. This was one of the first winter solstice parties I visited, one I make sure to return and, to this day, the only one where I was injured!

For two days the village lives around it, with the “caretos” (the masked demons) dressed in red, which now include young and old, men and women, being the main characters. They are the ones who, with or without a mask, are gathering the crowd and doing the party and tricks to the sound of drums and bagpipes. Starting with the rounds through the houses, beginning early in the morning, which are led by the “mordomos” (the stewards that run the festivities), and where everyone is greeted with food and drink. Ending with the races, already past sunset, where, in pairs, those who want can show who is the fastest. These races open to everyone, myself included, and where a fall would lease my shoulder sore during the following weeks.