Aveiro is a city in which the sea and the ria spread not only in the landscape but, above all, in the heart of those who live here. A city where salt, always used to conserve, preserves, above all, traditions.
They would call it São Gonçalo Festivals – these that invade the city when the cold is still felt. Here, however, the salty-hearted people of Beira-Mar call Saint Blessed Saint Gonçalinho, not for the sake of smallness but for the immense affection they cherish for the saint not only for healing bone diseases but also for treating matters of the heart. . He was born in 1190 in Arriconha, not far from Guimarães, and it was in the parish of Aboadela do Marão that he began to be known as a matchmaker saint.
On the days when São Gonçalinho or “our boy” festivals fill the streets and canals of Aveiro, the Beira-Mar neighborhood is the scene of countless traditions and everyone, without exception, is invited to be part of them. One of the most delicious rituals is tossing the typical sugar-coated candies we call cavacas from the top of the chapel and picking them up with open hands or umbrellas down here in the crowd. Also the delivery of the branch, artificial flowers preserved with religious care, and the Dance of the Mancos, performed inside the chapel, are traditions that bring together hundreds of people in the historic center. Here, promises are made to the patron saint of Beira-Mar and toasts to the city, to friendship, to the perpetuation of traditions.
These days, you go out into the street. Laugh. Celebrate yourself!
You can see the whole program on the facebook page of Mordomia de S. Gonçalinho
https://www.facebook.com/mordomia.saogoncalinho/
Isadora Freitas