Popular Traditions


The Azorean Islands, being tied to agrarian activities since the beginning of their colonization,




and situated in the limits of a cultural area (Europe), have kept alive many of the beliefs and practices, now extinct in the European Continent.




Most of the mythologies and correspondent religious practices which spread through Europe during the Neolithic and further periods, and left archaeological remains and others (i.e. in Portugal), are vividly celebrated in the Islands.



Naif painting, Liliana Teixeira, Terceira

The Celebrations follow the Cosmic Calendar, maintaining the respective dates, means (translated as “the adequate feelings and moods” expected to be expressed) and most of the other indicators which allow their classification under this category.



“Santo Cristo” S. Miguel, Victor Rego

Any one interested in observing these performances have to report to their past, in order to obtain some understanding of what is happening. Otherwise, just observing these manifestations without such an explanation would be a lost of time.

 


By Antonieta Costa