Tabuleiros festivities. Tomar, Portugal
Uma das mais importantes festividades em Portugal é a Festa dos Tabuleiros, que tem lugar a cada quatro anos, em Tomar. É uma evento baseado em rituais pagãos antigos, relacionados com a fertilidade. O desfile e a benção dos tabuleiros, assim como as bonitas e coloridas decorações das ruas, são um espectáculo inesquecível. Com origens muito remotas, nas quais nós podemos adivinhar cultos de fertilidade, esta festa é uma das mais profundas demonstrações de religiosidade em Portugal. Há mais de seiscentos anos que a cidade de Tomar celebra a Festa dos Tabuleiros como símbolo de acção de graças pelas suas boas colheitas. O momento alto da festa é a magnífica procissão onde seiscentas raparigas, escolhidas na cidade de Tomar e nas comunidades vizinhas, transportam à cabeça os tabuleiros. Estes são gigantescos e adornados com pequenos pães e flores. De acordo com as pessoas mais idosas da cidade, em tempos idos as flores eram verdadeiras. Agora são feitas de papel colorido, uma decisão sensata, certamente, para uma festa que dura quatro dias. Cada tabuleiro pesa cerca de dezasseis quilos e tem a altura da rapariga que o transporta. Leva trinta pães, pesando cada um 500 gramas, dispostas em seis filas de canas. A base do tabuleiro é um cesto, coberto por um imaculado pano branco com uma cercadura de renda. É neste cesto que as canas são fixadas. Alternando com os pães, estão fieiras de flores coloridas e espigas de trigo. A rematar todo o arranjo, no topo, uma grande coroa encimada por uma pomba branca ou pela Cruz de Cristo, símbolo dos cavaleiros templários que, em tempos, dominaram a cidade. One of the most important harvest festivals in Portugal is the Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays) that takes place every four years, in July. It's an event based on ancient pagan rites linked to fertility. The parade and blessing of the trays, and the decorations in the streets are an unforgettable spectacule. With very remote origins, where we can guess fertility cults, this festival is one of the most profound demonstrations of popular religiousness in Portugal. For over six hundred years the city of Tomar has celebrated the Festa dos Tabuleiros in token of thanksgiving for harvest foods. The main feature of the celebration is a magnificent procession of six hundred girls selected from Tomar and surrounding communities. The girls wear huge headdresses constructed with small loaves of bread and adorned with flowers. According to old people, in gone times the flowers were real. Now they are made of colored paper, a wise provision, surely, for a four-day festa. Each "tray" (Tabuleiro) weighs about thirty-three pounds and is the height of the girl carrying it. It's made up of thirty rolls of bread, each weighing 500 gr., set on five or six rows of canes. The base of the tray is a basket, covered by a white cloth with lace edging, in which the canes are fixed. Alternating with the bread are rows of paper flowers and sheaves of wheat finished off by a large painted tin crown topped by a dove or the Cross of Christ. Tomar - Portugal
Tabuleiros festivities. Tomar, Portugal
If you happen to be in Portugal during the month of July, I highly recommend not to miss the beautiful city of Tomar and the Feast of the Trays celebrations. However, there is a catch. The Feast of the Trays, or Festa dos Tabuleiros, is taking place only every four years, and the next time will be in 2019. I was lucky to experience this beautiful festival this year and learn more about the city’s traditions. The Tray Festival or the Divine Holy Spirit Festival is one of the most ancient cultural and religious events in Portugal. If you want, you can compare it to Thanksgiving, as both holidays’ origin is in the Harvest. It is a very colourful festival, thanks to the beautiful paper-flowers decorations in the streets of Tomar and the flowers tabuleiro (tray) the girls carry on their heads. The citizens of Tomar are getting ready for the big celebrations a few months in advance. They spend hundreds of hours making endless number of paper flowers to decorate their streets. The residents of each street are coming up with an idea or a theme or colour, and they work together on creating the decorations for the festival. It was great watching them uniting around […]
Tabuleiros festivities. Tomar, Portugal
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Rua Sacadura Cabral during the Festa dos Tabuleiros in 2003.
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The streets of Tomar during the Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays). Portugal
What to expect from the Festa dos Tabuleiros and how to make the most of the Tomar tray festival, a unique event in Central Portugal
