Easter Traditions: a scent of Minho!

Fortunately I was born in the northern Portuguese region of Minho where traditions are still very alive! Here some photos of Easter in my place with the typical food dishes: the roasted lamb with potatoes, rice, vegetables and wonderful bread and wine, of course!

and the sweets, "pastry temptations" where the "yellow" is the king! (my cholesterol! ouch! :P)

We also eat lots of chocolates, mostly chocolate eggs and the chocolate almonds with different colours and flavours. My favourites are those powdered with icing sugar and cinnamon: we call them "Ceilão"(Ceylon) almonds, which is the former name for Sri Lanka (you can guess why we call them Ceilão...)

It´s also very typical to boil eggs with onion peel so they get a auburn colour; these eggs are mostly to decorate the table!. The flowers are also very important and we buy some fresh flowers to put around the house: Easter is the celebration of Spring!

And of course, last but not the least, as Christians we "open the door" to the priest who starts by saying "Jesus Christ resurrected!Alleluia! Alleluia!" and sprinkles holly water at the people (sometimes you really take a bath! :P) and then gives us the crucified Christ so that we can kiss His feet or His face (you choose! :P).

Of course you pay for this short "visit": we gave the priest a sealed envelope with our family name written outside and with 60 euros inside, because the Church would never EVER do anything for his followers without charging them ("you give what you want, but usually people give us not less than 20 euros"---HYPOCRITES! ( my critics to the Catholic Church are endless...I´ll leave them for some other time and space...the only good thing about the Church is that she preaches God´s word, His teachings and keeps the memory of Christ alive. The Institution itself is...I don´t even know what to call it!)

Wonders of Portugal: monuments, places, music, poetry, unique cultural heritage! The Past and Future of bright Nation...

I was watching videos of Dulce Pontes searching for duets (by the way...do you know that Dulce sings in greek? here!!) and I found this video. It´s a compilation of pictures of some of the most beautiful Portuguese pieces of architecture (and many are not shown!). The background songs are sang by Dulce and are called: "Fado Português" and "O Infante"- beautiful, beautiful, beauuuuutiful songs, I got tears in my eyes! I´ll leave here the translation of the 2nd because it´s a poem I like very much...can you guess why? ;)

THE PRINCE (O INFANTE)

"God will, Man dreams, the work is born.

God willed that all the earth be one,

That seas unite and never separate.

You He blessed, and you went forth to read the foam.

And the white shore lit up, isle to continent,

And flowed, even to the world's end,

and suddenly the earth was seen complete,

Upsurging, round, from blue profundity.

Who blessed you made you Portuguese.

Us He gave a sign: the sea's and our part in you.

The Sea fulfilled, the Empire fell apart.

Lord, Portugal must yet fulfil itself!"

Fernando Pessoa,
"Mensagem"

This book, "Message", is the most mystical of all Pessoa´s work. Here he reinforces the everlasting theory of the 5th Empire. I won´t tell much more about this, by now; It is a fascinating theory about which I´ll write soon. For now get the idea that "Portugal must yet fulfil itself!" ;)

Detail of the nose of NRP Sagres sail training ship, where you can see a representation of Infante D. Henrique to whom the poem is dedicated.

“After his return from Ceuta, Henry the navigator founded a school of navigation in Sagres, which was a place to discuss the art of navigation. The vessel employed in the beginning of the Discoveries was the caravel, varying from 50 to 160 tons. The first results came soon and Gonçalves Zarco discovers Porto Santo Island in 1419 and Madeira Island in 1420, Diogo de Silves discovers the azorean island of Santa Maria in 1427. In 1424 Gil Eanes crosses the Cape Bojador. Diogo Cão and Bartolomeu Dias arrived to the mouth of Zaire River in 1482 and the second crosses the Cape of Good Hope in 1487. The greatest achievement of these exploration voyages was attained by Vasco da Gama, whom between 1497 and 1499 discovers the sea route to India.” on wiki