Celebrations in Portugal

 The christmas tree

A typical element that is never lacking in Portuguese Christmas is fire. In Portugal, it is customary to light bonfires on Christmas Eve, burning wood and stumps, the bigger the better. This ancient tradition symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness and therefore the longer the fire burns, the better the New Year will be.

In the interior of the country, Christmas is characterized by the ceremony of burning the Madero, during the night of December 24. It is carried out, above all, in the area that goes from Trás-os-Montes to Alto Alentejo, covering towns in the districts of Bragança, Guarda, Castelo Branco and Portalegre.

It is a demonstration with a vocation for coexistence, in which the private custom of meeting around the fireplace is shared, consolidating the cohesion of the local group. It consists of a large bonfire that takes place in the atrium of the church, or in another similar place of social and spatial organization, where the population gathers after the Misa del Gallo. The bonfire reaches the height of the church, burning all night until it goes out. Its remains are kept for consumption throughout the winter.

Benquerença flour crosses

In Benquerença (in the Castelo Branco region), where Midnight Mass is not celebrated, young people walk the streets with plates of flour drawing white crosses on the doors of the houses. The tradition tells about this custom that one of Herod's soldiers, while looking for Jesus through the streets of Bethlehem, found the back door of the place where the Virgin Mary was hiding with the Child Jesus and marked it with flour before go get help. When he returned with the rest of the soldiery, he discovered to his horror that all the doors on the street were marked with the same sign.