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Festivals play a major role in Portugal's summers. Every city
and town has its own festivals. The June Festivities are very
popular. These festivities are dedicated to three saints known
as Santos Populares (popular saints) and take place all over Portugal.
Why the populace associated the saints with these pagan festivities
is not known. The practice is possibly related to Roman or local
deities before Christianity spread into the region. The three
saints are
Saint Anthony, Saint John and Saint Peter. A common denominator
in these festivities are the wine and água-pé (a watered kind
of wine), traditional bread along with sardines, marriages, traditional
street dances, fire, fireworks and celebration. Saint Anthony
is celebrated on the 13th, mainly in Lisbon and Saint John on
the 24th, especially in Porto and Braga, where the sardines, Caldo
Verde (traditional soup in entire Portugal) and plastic hammers
to hammer on other peoples' heads for luck are indispensable.
The final saint is Saint Peter, celebrated on the nights of 28th
and 29th, especially in Póvoa de Varzim and Barcelos, festivities
are similar to the others, but mostly dedicated to the sea and
extensive use of fire (fogueiras). In Póvoa de Varzim, there is
the Rusgas in the night, another sort of street carnival. Each
festivity is a municipal holiday in the cities and towns where
it occurs.
Carnival is also widely celebrated in Portugal, some traditional
carnivals date back several centuries. Loulé, Alcobaça, Mealhada
and above all Ovar hold several days of festivities, with parades
where social and political criticism abound, music, dancing in
an environment of euphorya. On January 6, Epiphany is celebrated
by some families, especially in the North, where the family gathers
to eat "Bolo-Rei" (literally, King Cake, a cake made with crystallized
fruits); this is also the time for the traditional street songs
- "As Janeiras" (The January ones). Saint Martin Day, is celebrated
on November 11. This day is the peak of three days, often with
very good weather, it is known as Verão de São Martinho ("Saint
Martin summer"), the Portuguese celebrate it with jerupiga (a
sweet liqueur wine) and roasted Portuguese chestnuts (castanhas
assadas), and it is called Magusto
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