Rojão
Approximately 1km south of Vila Nova do Ceira, in the Sótão valley, is the village of Rojão. The land that is now the village of  Rojão was once owned by a family from another Rojão, in the district of Viseu. About 150 years ago, a huge flood destroyed the land and home of a family from Monteira, so they bought this land and called it ‘Rojão’in memory of the old owner’s village. The village now is made up of only four houses, in varying states of repair. The land around the village is fertile, irrigated by wells in addition to the irrigation system.
We spoke with an elderly man who remembered life in the village in bygone times: At one time, 20 people used to live in the village. The children of Rojão used to go to school in Vila Nova do Ceira.

About sixty years ago, there were two schools, both inside private houses. The girls’ school was at the bottom of the street, and the boys’ school near the square by the church. Many people had no land of their own, and used to go to work for the big landowners, wherever they were needed, often working from sunrise to sunset for next to nothing. Some people had their own oxen to work on the fields, and would hire themselves out as needed for a day or two’s ploughing. Those who had a lot of pine trees on their land rented them out for resin collection until a huge storm destroyed most of them. Mostly people cultivated maize, and the wealthier ones also grew rye and wheat to mix with the maize flour. There was a ‘lagar’ (olive-press) in the village that used water from the “Levada de Baixo”, but it closed about 35 years ago. The millers came from Vila Nova do Ceira to collect the maize and bring back the flour.  The ‘cornichos’ (a fungus that grew on the rye – probably ergot, which can be used medicinally) used to be collected and sold to traders that came to the village. They also sold willow bark to the traders, said to be used to make perfume, (although it may have also have been used for medicinal purposes, willow bark being a component of aspirin.)
About 75 years ago they used to perform the popular tradition of “cantar as pulhas” in the village at carnival time. The ‘storyteller’ hid in a place called Barreira do Boiço, and would call out all the gossip and secrets of the village from the preceding year. During the midsummer festival of São João the villagers made arcs of wood that were decorated with myrtle and ferns and coloured paper. Musicians came to play and everybody danced.