Santo Aleixo da Restauração village, Alentejo - The Tomina Festivities - The handing out of the religious guidons - The 27th of August 2016

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We then headed towards the Church street so as to follow the whole ritual of the handing out of the religious guidons. As I was waiting for the ceremony to start I walked into the 17th century Church, which was restored several times over the years and is now considered a Monument of patrimonial importance.

The various guidon holders have to walk back and forth along the street running from the Churchyard stairs to the crossroads at the end of that same street. The ritual implies a specific sequencing in which they are preceded by a drum and flute player, the priest and the brass band players, though these just make their way up the stairs to the entrance of the church when the last guidon has been handed out, which is Santo António's, the patron Saint, whose statue is finally carried into the church.

For an outsider this ritual may sound rather repetitive taking into account the number of times they have to go back and forth but the truth is that for the locals preserving the traditions is of extreme importance.

Santo Aleixo da Restauração village, Alentejo - Getting to know an outstanding local figure; old weighing system; using the local material -The 27th of August 2016

I was introduced to Dona Catarina (commonly called Catalina, the Spanish version for her Portuguese name) who speaks a mixture of Portuguese/Spanish identified as Barranquenho dialect because of having been born in a rather peculiar village, whose proximity to Spain bears its influence.


She showed me around and I was mesmerised by her little "secret" garden on the upper patio, which apart from the cooling atmosphere provided an incredible view over the village hill settlement with its parallel streets. The traditional oven, she often uses to bake some rather exquisite tarts, located in the lower patio was interesting to look at as well.


I couldn't help taking a picture with her as we sat listening to her stories, some of which related to the frontier crossing during the Spanish Civil war.

 

 

Soon after having got back "home" Misi and  I went around to the local grocer's where two things caught my attention - the cork made benches and the old system of weighing the goods.

 

 

 

 

(To be continued)