Life in Góis October 2009

Life in Góis Octoberr 2009

31st October
Today is of course, Halloween, the eve of All Hallows or All Souls Day, otherwise known as the Day of the Dead. While the children are busy carving their pumpkin lanterns and dressing up as witches and vampires, the older generation are more concerned to honour their forbears, and are making their annual visit to the cemetery this weekend. Here they tidy up the gravesides or tombs of the deceased family members, and adorn them with flowers and candles. The effect, en masse, is a transformation of the usually gloomy cemetery into a garden of yellow and white chrysanthemums by day – and by night, a glow of red candlelight lighting the way for the spirits of the ancestors…

27th October
Last week I took a few days away to visit family in Edinburgh. The day I flew the rain decided to sheet down in torrents, almost causing me to miss my flight as the rush-hour traffic into Lisbon snarled into gridlock under the weight of the wet. Happily I did manage to get away, and happily now I am back, the sun is shining once again and the temperature is a warm 20ºC. Something I have been musing on since I first came to Portugal is how it is that this is the only country I know of in Western Europe that does not name the days of the week after the planets and their associated gods. I have asked many Portuguese people how their days of the week have basically become known as ‘Second Day’ ‘Third day’ etc. with only Saturday and Sunday being named Sábado and Domingo respectively. What happened to the other days? Nobody could tell me. Recently I stumbled upon the answer, courtesy of the ever-reliable Wikipedia, where I should probably have looked in the first place!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week-day_names#Monday
The fact is that the days of the week were named after the planets until the 6th century, when the archbishop of Braga decided that this was unsuitably pagan, and took it upon himself to sanitise the calendar, replacing the names with the rather boring ‘Segunda feira’ ‘Terça feira’ etc. In Galicia, the part of Spain to the north of Portugal that still speaks a dialect more akin to Portuguese than Castilian Spanish, the original names are still alive and in everyday use. I give them to you here, with their planetary associations: Luns, (day of the Moon) Martes (day of Mars), Mércores (day of Mercury), Xoves (day of Jupiter) and Venres (day of Venus). Sábado and Domingo relate to the Sabbath day and the Day of the Lord – perhaps once they too were named after Saturn and the Sun? I am thinking of starting a one-woman campaign to reinstate these beautiful names, at least in my own little world … Góis, Martes, 27 de Outobro.

12th October
As the days continue to be sunny and warm we decided to take advantage once again of our free Sunday and headed inland this time, to a village north-east of Tábua called Fiais. Here there is an intriguing collection of dolmens known as the Orca complex. ‘Orca’ in Portuguese translates as ‘ogre, devouring monster’ so we can only guess how these dolmens came by the name. The central Orca dolmen is a splendid edifice, and in the late afternoon sunshine it certainly did not feel sinister, but quite the reverse – it seemed to me to emanate a tranquil, timeless quality of deep peace from its huge stones. The dolmens are scattered throughout a relatively small area of heath land which enjoys a fantastic vista over to the Serra de Estrela in one direction and Trevím in the other. The landscape here is very different from the Góis region with its mountain rivers and fertile valleys - here there are colossal granite boulders emerging from a sandy soil, pine trees, and of course, the ubiquitous eucalyptus. On some of the boulders close to the dolmens are engraved some intriguing petroglyphs – particularly a repeated design of a circle with an elongated cross, something akin to the astrological symbol for Venus. The dolmens have been dated as around 6000 years old, but there has been no apparent attempt to date the petroglyphs or interpret their meaning. Probably many more stones and boulders have been removed and recycled in local buildings. One large dolmen was even incorporated into a barn of a local quinta – presumably developed from being used as a shelter into the actual structure of the relatively recent building. Most of the other dolmens are smaller scale –3-legged stone tables set on mounds of raised earth. In some of them the entrance-ways are still evident, and at the big Orca Dolmen it is possible to crawl through the entrance passage to stand upright in the main chamber, surrounded by the ancient stone. I love having the opportunity to wander round sites like these and letting my imagination run free. We had the place to ourselves yesterday, enjoying an undisturbed afternoon of communion with the ancestors.

To see more about the Orca complex, click here: http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/portoorca.htm

6th October
Today we are back at work after the October 5th Bank Holiday, and we were greeted this morning by swirling grey clouds. But two days ago we enjoyed a last blast of summer as we headed for the coast – just an hour and a half’s drive to the beach at Praia de Mira, where we had a delightful time playing on the edge of the thundering Atlantic rollers. At regular intervals along the beach the traditional crescent-shaped fishing boats were hauled up, with their oars and nets stashed inside. We took a close-up look at one, and saw a tiny figurine of the Virgin Mary taped to the very tip of the prow – observing the ferocity of the waves it was easy to understand that the fishermen would feel the need for divine protection as they launched into that broiling sea, and why they would have the logo “Vamos com Deus” (“We go with God”) inscribed on the inside of the boat. In the haze of the sea-mist they appeared very romantic lined up on the shore, but I imagine the reality of bringing in a catch of fish under oar-power is sheer demanding sweat and toil. At the end of the season, the little town of Praia de Mira seemed rather tired, but still full of visitors enjoying the sea air - it is good to be reminded that the sea is so close by, and I relish the tang of salt on my skin. Despite all the river swimming we have enjoyed this summer, there is still nothing quite like frolicking in the ocean!

2nd October
Life in Góis is currently being enlivened by the run-up to the elections. Last weekend saw the national elections taking place - but the local elections, still to come, are proving to be much more entertaining. Working away in our office in the middle of town we are treated throughout the day to the official election vehicles coming past, complete with amplifiers blaring out rousing music of various genres, exhorting us to vote for this or that political party. The only other time we are on the receiving end of so much noisy publicity is when the circus comes to town! And the colourful election posters on every corner really brighten up the place a treat.
I have to confess to still being woefully ignorant about what the various political parties stand for, but an election is so much more interesting when you know the individual candidates and see them out and about. Indeed, it is difficult not to trip over our candidates and their supporters at the moment, as they are there at every turn. Will the successful one be so available to the populace after the election I wonder? Obviously I have my tongue very much in my cheek as I write this, but we do have sincere hopes and dreams for the Góis region, and we do look forward to new energy enabling constructive projects to come into being. So we wait with eager anticipation to see what October 11th will bring.

Unlocking the history of the Góis region

Updated 14 June, 2010