Ring in Portugal’s Pagan Winter Parades
‘Tis the Yuletide season once again, but while some may have visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, I’m thinking about fire, pageantry, sheep and the winter solstice in Portugal’s hinterland. It’s been something of a hobby of mine for a few years now to get up to the Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro regions of Portugal over this time of year, to coincide with some of the most unique and ancient practices on the Iberian Peninsula, which begin around Christmas and continue until February. These dead winter months see bursts of colourful local traditions, in places such as Ousilhão, Varge, Lazarim, and most notably, Podence, whose annual Carnaval celebration now enjoys UNESCO World Heritage status.
The possibility of surprise to me is key in what makes travel so appealing. And one of my enduring moments of awe in my many travels in Portugal was stumbling for the first time upon one of these festivals the day after Christmas, on Santo Estevão Day in northern Portugal. This remote and somewhat isolated region maintains these winter celebrations with strong connections to ancient Celtic rites, and fertility cults. Villagers burning effigies and making noise with cowbells (who doesn’t love a little cow bell) was a means of banishing evil spirits and making offerings to the gods for the promise of abundant harvests and ensuring the continuity of the village. Not bad life goals for an Iberian shepherd. December 26 in Ousilhão sees local villagers dress in sackcloth traditional shepherd garb, tying cowbells around their waists (chocalhos in Portuguese, hence the name for the participants in this ritual, chocalheiros) donning haunting wooden masks still hand carved by local artisans, and prancing around the village, raising some hell and chasing virgins. A pagan ritual if there ever was one, but today all in the name of the patron saint. I did pretty much the same in my youth, we just called it “college”.
Fast forward a few weeks to the Carnaval period and towns like Podence and Lazarim in the Douro become vibrant displays of these ancient shrovetide customs, called Entrudos, where chocalheiros engage in more general cowbell waist moves and female chasing (though today, it’s mostly the ladies chasing the chocalheiros for photos). Podence’s entrudo has a higher profile thanks to its UNESCO status, and culminates in a night of eating, drinking, and burning chocalheiro figures in effigy. That’s my idea of a cool winter’s Saturday night.
Experiencing northern Portugal’s unique winter solstice and Carnaval practices are deep dive explorations at their finest, and it delights me that for now at least these colourful displays remain very local celebrations, barely known beyond Portugal’s borders. Now I’m off to practice my cowbell.
Sebastian’s got winter cowbell fever but is getting help. Reach out to him to plan your next Portuguese foray.
