São Romão Traditional feasts
The traditional festivals of São Romão in Santo André, Alentejo, are an important cultural and religious event that dates back centuries of tradition and history in the Alentejo region of Portugal. These celebrations, which take place annually, are a reflection of the local community's rich folk heritage and deep connection with its religious and cultural roots.
The festival is centred on Saint Romão, a saint venerated by the local community.
São Romão, considered the patron saint of the parish, is celebrated in August and the date is marked by a series of religious activities such as masses, processions and pilgrimages. Devotion to this saint is ancient and closely linked to the spirituality of the local population, which has kept religious practices in his honour alive over the years. The procession through the streets of Santo André is one of the most anticipated moments, bringing together hundreds of faithful who, with faith and devotion, accompany the image of the saint through the main streets of the town.
The São Romão festivities in Santo André are a true reflection of the region's cultural traditions. The festival is marked by popular manifestations involving music, dance, gastronomy and other typical elements of Alentejo culture. The sound of ‘cantares’ and the presence of ‘cantares ao desafio’ are some of the traditions that make the event unique, where locals and visitors come together to celebrate, sing and dance.
Popular, Cultural Aspects and the Social Dimension of the Festival.
Gastronomy plays a key role in the celebrations, with traditional dishes such as açorda, Portuguese stew, Alentejo pork and the region's typical sweets, such as honey cakes.These foods are lovingly prepared and served to the participants, reinforcing the community's bond with the land and its culinary customs.
The São Romão festivities in Santo André are also a time for the inhabitants of the village to get together and socialise, as well as for visitors to come from other places.During the festivities, it's common for families to get together, with children, young people and adults taking part in various fun activities, such as traditional games, fairs and cultural performances.The festival is thus an opportunity to renew social ties, strengthen community identity and remember the traditions that define local culture.
Historically, after the agricultural work was finished, the rural population would go to the
Santo André coast for leisure time. They travelled in wagons, dressed in traditional
and spent the day on the beach, where they improvised tents with quilts to protect themselves from the sun.
Festivities included bathing in the sea, dancing to the sound of the accordion or bagpipes and socialising that lasted well into the night.
What the local experts say
Interview's main points
Interviewer – In what way are these festivals an important tradition for the region?
David Gorgulho – It is a very important tradition because it symbolises or tries to recreate the one day of the year when people from the interior of the municipality came to the beach once a year, they had been toiling, farming for a long time throughout the year, they were very tired, and there was one day of the year that was a feast day, which was 9 August, the day of São Romão, when they would prepare a packed lunch, get everyone together and go on a pilgrimage for many kilometres, usually in wagons with animals to help carry all the things. They travelled a long way from dawn until they reached the beach on the coast of Santo André where they would share with the people what they had cooked and what they had brought with them in a great spirit of community, a great spirit of sharing and that's what makes these festivities so special, and then of course the bathing.
At the time, obviously, there were no bikinis, people couldn't show the parts of their body that are shown today, even men didn't venture that far, women would roll up their skirts, men their trousers and go to the bath, wetting their ankles, their knees and it was a day of celebration with the accordion, with dancing on the sand and that's how the party was done.
Interviewer - What kind of residents come to the region during the St Romão festivities?
David Gorgulho - Visitors come from all over, we even say that at this time in Santo André it's difficult to find people from Santo André. If you go to the supermarket during the festivities you'll find a lot of people from outside and that's also something we're very happy about it. You know that this area is a tourist area by nature, but the fact that we can show what we have in terms of tradition makes us very happy, because at the end of the day that's why we're here, to show our land to the outside world, showing what we have that is most beautiful and as people, we like our folklore groups or the group of costumes and traditions from Lagoa de Santo André . They do this so well and until a few years ago we still had people over eighty with us who had been through this in their own lives and not as a recreation, so these people also taught us a lot and left us this legacy that we now have to honour for many years to come.
Interviewer - What traditions are presented and performed on the feast days of São Romão festivities?
David Gorgulho - Basically, the greatest of all is this pilgrimage, this procession to the beach, this sharing of food with people, snacks, great snacks, by the way from our Alentejo region. and also the trditional bath at the beach, the socialising, the dances we have here in our biggest tent, these are all traditions of our past that nowadays tend to be a little lost, but that we won't let go,so both the cultural, ethnical and ethnographic traditions as well as music, entertainment, socialising
between people, brings the communities closer, those who visit us from outside, and those who are from here,it's fundamentally about maintaining traditions, you can see it in their eyes, in their clothes, in their joy when they're on their way to the beach, i tis a great joy.
