Cultural Assignment
Jackie Aleman, Patti Hagen, Alexis Hinojosa, and Jodi Marks
A+ Team
Ms. Young
Comm 04 T/TH
May 19, 2020



Every culture has something that defines it-that makes it special. With its nine lush green islands, Portugal is a breathtaking location that contains a just-as-inviting culture. It is one of the oldest European countries, and its borders have remained relatively the same since 1927. The Portuguese culture, like every culture, has its own traditions and customs that make it unique. It includes a variety of both rich and glamourous festivals filled with color and respectable, convivial traditions. After researching the Portuguese culture and experiencing its prosperous customs, we determined that Portugal houses a colorful and marvelous culture that more people should know about.

The Portuguese culture places a high value on family and religion, and as such, many of their holidays center around these themes. One family-centric tradition is the Domingos em Familia (Sundays with Family) in which families gather at their grandparents’ or other family member’s home. According to Mike Ferreira, a Portuguese man from the Azores Island, Portuguese people tend to not be sedentary. Thus, many people will meet up with their families spontaneously as opposed to setting aside a specific date to celebrate.  Festas de Espirito Santo (Festivals of the Holy Spirit) is another holiday celebrated annually in Portugal, primarily in the Azorean region.  The festival is usually held on Pentecost Sunday in a church and organized by local communities. On this day a mass is held along with a parade complete with lots of dancing and food. This tradition came about from the story of a Portuguese King and Queen Isabel who remained faithful to the teachings of the Monk Joachim. During a famine, the Queen attempted to sneak bread from her table to give to the poor. When caught by the King, she prayed that roses would fall from her cloak instead. This prayer was answered, and this tale established devotion to the Holy Spirit in Portugal. One of the most prominent aspects of Portuguese holidays is their connection to Patron Saints. A decree was made in 1910 declaring that each municipality was able to choose a day to celebrate its own individual customs. Many municipalities opted to pick their holiday as a day to revere the Patron Saint of their region or town.

The spirit of Portuguese culture is exemplified through its many extravagant and welcoming traditions and customs. As with other parts of Portuguese culture, education puts family first. The education system rewards hard work and close bonds above other characteristics. Furthermore, Portuguese people tend to show friendliness through physical acts such as hugs. It is also common to gesture with hands to enunciate one’s emotions or thoughts. Festivals, however, showcase the familial aspect of Portuguese culture the best. Santos Populares is one of the largest traditions and among one of the holiday events held in June. It consists of the many Saint-honoring festivals, including Santo António, São João and São Pedro. Santo António takes place on June 13th in Lisbon and honors Saint Antonio, São João celebrates Saint John the Baptist on June 23rd, and São Pedro revers Saint Peter around June 29th. People go all out with decorations and events during these festivals. A unique atmosphere is created by decorating the streets with a variety of colorful balloons and garlands. Large feasts and vibrant dresses can also be observed among the sparkling parades during these festivals. Seafood, beans, rice, and wine are plentiful as meals in Portugal, especially during these celebrations. Spectacular firework shows are held at midnight during festivals. People make a wish during this event and release hot air balloons up into the sky. A distinctive tradition in the Portuguese culture highlights the importance of community in the culture. People will gather in the streets to eat, drink, and dance together all night until the next day. Usually, such nights end with the people gathering at the beach to watch the sunrise.

Traditional dance and music are a defining and beautiful feature of these Portuguese traditions. Portuguese dancing is typically
defined by elaborate footwork and large, circular motions. While Portuguese clothing tends to be casual, similar to American garments, there are many different garments worn for dance and festivals, and each represents a different region of Portugal. Women normally wear long, matching dresses with full skirts. Men’s uniforms are more plan in comparison, opting for plain yet bold colors such as black and white shirts and trousers. Some of the most popular dancing techniques in Portuguese culture include fado, vira, fandago, and corridinho. Fado is a kind of melancholic music genre paired with equally despairing dance movements. The vira is a type of spin that involves men and women gathering in circles and spinning into new dance partners. Fandago is a similar dance, though it is more energetic and accompanied by even more upbeat music. Lastly, the corridinho is a couple’s dance that involves switching who is dancing more extravagantly, and it includes intricate footwork and many dizzying spins. Portuguese music usually tends to be on the more energetic side. During these remarkable dance routines, a mix of guitars, accordions, bagpipes, and finger-snapping is utilized. Moreover, Ranchos Folclóricos are traditional folk dances common in rural Portuguese communities. These animated dance sequences further show how lively and connected the Portuguese culture can be.

A large aspect of Portuguese beliefs, traditions, and celebrations are based on Catholicism. In Portugal, 80% of people identify as Roman Catholic, though most of them consider themselves to be non-practicing. The rate of church-goers and other practicing religious people in Portugal tends to rise closer to Lisbon and the Northern region of the country. Catholicism was introduced in Portugal back when it was still part of the Holy Roman Empire, and while the stringency of maintaining religion has slowly waned in favor of religious independence, many still consider Catholicism to be a major part of Portuguese culture. This connection is why so many of Portugal’s lively festivals are dedicated to Saints. Some people also present gifts to saints and act extra charitably to receive answers to their prayers. One of the largest and most well-known religious Portuguese tradition is the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Fatima. It is believed that the Virgin Mary herself appeared to a group of children in the village of Fatima back in 1917. Because of this, many people consider Fatima to be a blessed and holy location, so many religious followers make a pilgrimage to the sanctuary in the Virgin Mary’s honor and to pursue healing. All Saint’s Day is another widely-celebrated religious holiday in Portugal with its own unique traditions. In addition to honoring the dead with times of mourning and visits to cemeteries, the practice of Pão-por-Deus (“Bread for God’s sake”) is also prominent on this date. This tradition entails young children stopping door-to-door (similar to Halloween) to receive bread, sweets, nuts, and fruit in respect to Christ.  Holy Week is one of the most pronounced displays of religious devotion in Portuguese culture. It takes place in Braga, and it revolves around the holy celebrations around Easter. Concerts and holy displays precede Palm Sunday, and Mass is held on Palm Sunday. More concerts and pageants are held before celebrating Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Mass and other traditional Catholic processions are also held until the peak of the event, Easter Sunday, where a large mass is held. The week offers sweets, boat precessions, and festive décor that attracts many tourists. Finally, superstition and other spiritual beliefs are still prevalent in Portugal. Of the most known are the legend of spirits such as the enchanted moura (a temptress that can reward people with treasure), and the “evil eye” that grants bad luck.

During our research, we determined that the Portuguese culture had many unique traditions and beliefs, but it also shared some aspects with our own culture. Jackie believes that there is not too much of a difference between her culture and the Portuguese culture. Both cultures gather to celebrate large events, holidays, and festivals. However, a difference she noted between the two cultures is that people from the Portuguese culture tend to stay up all night during festivities and redo their celebrations repeatedly. Patti considers the Portuguese culture to share some similarities while also having some differences with the American culture. She notes how Portuguese celebrations revolve around family and incorporate entire communities, a trait not frequently present in many American celebrations. She also mentions that, like America, Portugal has many varied communities of people from different regions. Also, Patti discovered that the topic of education, family, and sports were similar to America. Likewise, Alexis also believes that the Portuguese culture is not vastly dissimilar to his own. He remarks on how similar the root words between Portuguese and Hispanic languages are. However, Alexis also observed that Portuguese food usually incorporates seafood whereas the Hispanic culture uses other meat products. He considers the Portuguese culture to be a “sister” to the Hispanic culture with its own unique traits. Jodi also remarks that there were some similarities and differences between her culture and the Portuguese culture. She determined that many of the aspects of Portuguese festivals were shared with American celebrations. Such similarities include fireworks, feasts, and costumes. However, she also noticed that Portuguese traditions were noticeably more focused on familial ties and religious beliefs.

Because of the many variables throughout the assignment and the changes in plans and schedules, we had to endure various obstacles while conducting our research and communicating. Compared to our last project, Jackie stressed the importance of being on the same page with one another more. She remarked that, due to the situation, it was a lot more difficult to communicate effectively. Because we could only use messaging applications and were unable to meet face-to-face, effective communication was more difficult to accomplish. Patti comments on how we had originally chosen this project because we planned to attend a Festa in Turlock as recommended by our former member Rafael. She also comments on how losing Rafael as a teammate has affected our efficiency negatively. The most prominent difficulty we faced, Patti notes, is the COVID-19 virus that shut down the school. Because of this, we could not plan our project in person, we had new schedules to work around, and we faced many technical difficulties during our time working. Alexis agrees that not being able to see each other in person was a major obstacle we had to face during this assignment. He also noted that the large changes that were made to and throughout the assignment were contributing factors to our efficiency. The quick need to change plans, become adaptive, and not see each other’s faces made it a bit more difficult to communicate throughout the project. Jodi also agrees that scheduling was a major issue during this project that was not as present during our last assignments. Because COVID-19 caused many people to change schedule, she comments, it became very difficult to ensure quick and efficient responses. While she believes the research was simple enough to conduct online, she stated that missing out on the personal aspect of the event was disheartening. She also commented that the changes made throughout the project were unpredictable and a bit difficult to manage.

Our research has given rise to the conclusion that Portugal contains an underrated though wondrous culture to be explored. The Portuguese culture is defined by its lively and inviting nature. With its especially unique holidays, traditions, music, dances, and religious traditions, one can clearly see how the culture shines. We sincerely hope that our research has also convinced others to notice the beauty of Portugal’s wonderous culture.

References
Anna. (2019, June 16). 3 most celebrated Portuguese traditions - Discover Walks Lisbon. Discover Walks Blog. https://www.discoverwalks.com/blog/3-most-celebrated-portuguese-traditions
Carneiro, A., Simoes, A., Diogo, M. P., & Mota, T. S. (2013). Geology and religion in Portugal. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 67(4), 331–354. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2012.0072
Culture of Portugal - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family. (2010). Every Culture. https://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/Portugal.html
Easter in Portugal (2020). Visit Portugal. https://www.visitportugal.com/en/content/easter-in-portugal
Mudge, E. (2019, November 23). Portuguese Religion: A Brief History of Portugal Part 2. Portugal.Com; Portugal.com. https://portugal.com/portugal-blogs/portuguese-religion
Popular Saints’ Festivals. (2020). Visit Portugal. https://www.visitportugal.com/en/node/210955
Portugal. (2020). In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://academic-eb-com.portalproxy.mccd.edu/levels/collegiate/article/Portugal/105994
Portugal Holidays and Festivals. (2020). Iexplore.Com. https://www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/europe/portugal/festivals-and-events
Portugal - Religious Practices. (2020). Countrystudies.Us. http://countrystudies.us/portugal/59.htm
Santos, N. (2017, March 6). An Introduction to Ranchos, Traditional Portuguese Folk Dance. Culture Trip; The Culture Trip. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/portugal/articles/an-introduction-to-ranchos-traditional-portuguese-folk-dance/
Scroope, C. (2018). Portuguese Culture - Religion. Cultural Atlas. https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/portuguese-culture/portuguese-culture-religion
The Festival of the Holy Spirit in Azorean Portuguese Communities. (2020). Sjsu.Edu. https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/holyspirit.htm