Life in Góis Nov 2008
Life in Góis October 2008
Life in Góis Sept 2008
Life in Góis August 2008
Life in Góis July 2008
Life in Góis June 2008
Life in Góis May 2008

October 26th
This last week has seen a flurry of activity in the villages of the region, as anyone who has an olive tree or two on their land has been out picking their olives. From what I have observed, this is mostly carried out by the women, who usually seem to get any job involving climbing a ladder while their menfolk keep both feet firmly planted on the ground and offer valuable moral support. In the case of olive-picking, it is first necessary to spread some kind of sheet on the ground at the bottom of the tree on to which to lob your olives, gathering them up at the end. When the tree is on a slope, it may be necessary to erect some kind of barrier to prevent them rolling away down the hill. We only have a couple of productive olive trees – bearing too little fruit on their own to be worth pressing. But as we watched our neighbours stoically working their way through their twenty – tree olive grove, we thought it would be a nice gesture to add our offering to their harvest. Stripping one tree in the hot sunshine of a late October afternoon was very enjoyable – I might have felt differently if I had to do it all day for days on end.  It was satisfying though, to participate even in a small way, in an activity that has played such an important role in this region’s life and economy for centuries. Olive trees are very much a part of the landscape, and every village used to have access to a ‘lagar’ or olive-press, where it was usually a huge chestnut beam that lent its weight to the pressing process. Nowadays, the olives are taken to the local agricultural co-operative and are pressed mechanically. Olive trees have great medicinal qualities in their fruit and leaves, and olive wood is said to have been used in Solomon’s Temple as a symbol of peace. Their presence here is, to my mind, one of the many beautiful attributes of this land.

October 21st
This weekend saw an international Scouting event taking place here in our very own village. ‘Jota-Joti’ is an annual event that links up Scouts all around the world through the internet and amateur radio transmission. The Góis Scout Group set up their internet connection in the Casa do Convivio in Vale Moreiro/Manjão, and their radio operation on top of the hill at Nossa Senhora de Guia, and all day on Saturday, groups of Scouts of different ages were going between the two places. For the village, this was delightful! Ours is a very friendly and lively village at any time, but filled with young, active people like this the place was buzzing. The ‘Lobitos’ (‘Cub –Scouts’) went up the hill at 10 a.m. singing, and came back at lunch-time shrieking excitedly in the back of a pick-up truck. Meanwhile, small groups of Scouts were engaged in various exercises around the village, and the locals were only too happy to help them with their quests, - everyone seemed to be out and about and involved. Altogether, the weekend was a very happy one, if tiring for the almost indefatigable Scout leaders! On Sunday afternoon, as the older Scouts were packing up at the Casa do Convivio, one of the eldest inhabitants of Manjão came up with a surprise for them – chestnuts and pine needles for an impromptu magusto (traditional chestnut roast). This was her way of expressing her great pleasure at seeing the village so alive with youthful activity.

To see more photos of the Scouts activities at the weekend, go to our Events Page

October 16th
This morning we woke to a heavy mist cloaking the hillside – a truly moist autumnal dawn with the scent of damp wood in the air and no sign of the moon, which yesterday was full and bright even after daybreak. But by 10 am the mist had almost cleared, as the sun broke through and revealed a magical sight – a series of fabulous webs had been spun through the bracken and the trees all the way up the bank behind our house. With drops of moisture still clinging to them like jewels, it looked more like fairy art than the labour of spiders! For a brief period of time, before the sun climbed higher in the sky and it all faded out of sight, we were absolutely entranced.

October 15th
Over the last 12 months we have been busy building up the website with information about the villages within the concelho of Góis. This work started off with the intention of cataloguing points of interest, and giving people a flavour of the region and the people who live in it, so that anyone interested in moving out here would already have a degree of acquaintance with the area. What we did not realise when we started was that what we were doing - i.e. compiling a photographic and textual record of the villages, was such a unique enterprise and would attract so much local interest. Once Anna joined us and started to engage village inhabitants in conversation, the project quickly developed another dimension – we found that we were engaged in documenting social history – recording memories and stories that might otherwise die with the elderly population. Apart from the privilege of hearing personal recollections of life from times past, it has been fascinating to see how particular themes occur in different areas  - for example, stories about wolves in the mountainous areas of Colmeal and Cadafaz, and customs around the maize in Vila Nova do Ceira – and how some themes are universal, such as the tendency to construct witty explanations for a village’s name! In the process, we have learned a lot about the local sense of humour, as well as getting a sense of life’s hardship and struggle on the one hand, and the tremendous mutual support and capacity for enjoyment on the other. If you enjoy reading the blog, I would urge you to peruse the pages on the villages, because contained within them are some wonderful cameos of past life in Góis, and until the day that I collate them all and produce ‘The Book’ of customs, traditions, stories and legends of the region, this is where they will most easily be found.

October 6th
Although the nights are colder now, and we wake up to temperatures of 6 degrees, our days here are still warm and balmy, and pretty much what one would expect of an English summer. I am amazed that there are not more visitors here at this time of year – how much they are missing if only they knew! The light now has that lovely luminous quality of early autumn as the sun slants over the hills, and the heat is mellow, never scorching. Butterflies still flutter over the roses and dahlias, and there are huge grasshoppers all over our garden – that keep the cat amused all day - while robins and sparrows are returning from colder climes to spend the winter months here. These are the weeks for harvesting the grapes, and we have met people in the villages around Góis as they have been gathering the grapes from their vines and taking them to be pressed. In at least one local village this weekend they were holding a ‘Vinhada’ – a communal occasion to get together for a meal (any excuse!) and then partake in the traditional method of pressing the grapes by foot. We have a few vines ourselves – the grapes they produce are not much to look at compared to some, but they taste marvellous. How different the flavour is when sun-ripened and eaten off the vine, compared to the chilled, stored and transported supermarket variety. So now we are eagerly awaiting the new wine, jeropiga and aguardente that will soon be appearing, as many people here carry on the tradition of making their own wine, fortified wine and spirit. Local hospitality is such that at any time or place you can find yourself invited to sample some potent homebrew or other, and on occasion even find yourself carrying home a bottle or two (and no, I didn’t say find yourself being carried home with a bottle at two, although that could also happen!)