Magusto >> A fall festival in Portugal
During the time living in the city, I try to follow as
much as possible the festivals of the Portuguese locals and what they
celebrate.
On November 11th we learnt that a big area will be set up
around the church called "Igreja Matriz" near the Santo Amaro stop. But that was last year. I
learned about the annual "Magusto" event from the community in my
company where I work.
"Magusto" is a traditional festival in the
Iberian Peninsula. Popular in Portugal, Galicia and parts of Northern Spain, it
is of Celtic origin and celebrates the end of summer and the beginning of
winter. As I read in a web source, "During this holiday, numerous
traditional rituals are celebrated related to purification, healing,
remembering ancestors, attending mass or visiting the local healer."
It was written like this in the related event page
"The tradition continues. 10 tons of chestnuts prepared in a roaster along
two big streets will be served with Carcavelos wine 'Villa Oeiras' and lots of
entertainment". Of course, I
couldn't miss this tradition and that Saturday I took my camera, got on the
train, got off after 3 stops and went to the church. I never left my new
roommate, she joined me 😊
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| Magusto |
I would like to point out that we in Türkiye also love
chestnuts very much. In the same way, we produce many grill on the street, from
salesmen with carts that prepare and sell them in coal fire and much more we
sell them as chestnut candies. In the same way, of course, chestnuts are very
popular on the street in October-November.
When we arrived the location was already in a festive
atmosphere, everything was already decorated because Christmas was coming.
There was a marching band and they were
accompanied by drums, a wind instrument similar to a clarinet and bagpipes
while waiting for your turn for chestnuts and I love it! I was also impressed
by the fact that there were people of all ages in the band :) . I liked the
fact that they were making music cheerfully on the street, just like the
marching bands in Istanbul on our national holidays.
In addition to the line of chestnuts, there were famous
drinks such as "Agua pe" and a kind of liquor called "Carcevelos
wine" to accompany you on the side, some of them were for sale, while
others, such as the liquor, were free for tasting like chestnuts.
Unfortunately I didn't get to see Jeropiga, I really
wanted to taste it, I was told that it was a specialty of Magusto. But then our
class teacher at the school where I took the Portuguese language course did us
a favor and brought us Jeropiga, a kind of liquor, very delicious. Maybe I shouldn't let the cat out of the bag
here :)
Anyway, we decided to stand in line and after 40 minutes
of chatting with friends from 3 different nationalities, we finally got our
chestnuts.
How do they make the chestnuts? I took photos of them for
you below. The chestnuts are roasted over a charcoal fire in huge, I think iron
molds.
While eating the chestnuts, we have another round of
drinks. There are trees decorated with lights and the church is playing music.
At around 19:00 we slowly dispersed.
After having coffee with a friend, we have our evening
beer and mini sandwiches at "Montaditos" with a Portuguese friend.
The last time we met was before I left for Turkey. When I felt like playing a
game, he took me to the "game bar" he had taken me to before and we
played "Mastermind" for a few rounds. I've been playing with my mom
for years, and when I told my Portuguese friend that I liked this game, we did
some mind exercises together. Then we decided to play PS5 Mortal Kombat for 1
hour 😊
It felt good to experience the Portuguese tradition of
this last spring festival. I thought I had been away from a lot of things, it
was a sweet change.
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| Igreja Matriz de Oeiras |
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