In all the more traditional Carnival festivities in Portugal, and many of the Winter Solstice ones that take place a few weeks earlier, the day ends with everyone surrounding a large fire (either a simple bonfire or even a figure being burned). Its meaning is simple and powerful: the burning of all the bad things enclosed in it, with added dimension from Christianity that a solemn period of moderation and discipline is around the corner.Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, February 2020 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetide   photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I00…

Loose branches, old roots and all the burning stuff that could be found forms the big pile of wood that remains the whole day carnival day in a small plateau, overlooking the church and the houses of the small village, as well as the rolling hills nearby. Not sure if it’s on purpose or a coincidence…  It’s at the place where all will come to an end, meant to be lit around dusk, as soon as the chaotic procession of masked men arrives.        Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, March 2019 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetide   photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I00…

A test of courage, a old cleansing ritual, probably both but also a celebration of a village’s identity and some plain old fun. Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, March 2019 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetide  

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Jumping over the flames, one at a time! Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, February 2020 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetide  photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I00…

Father and son, both wearing the “máscaro” red-hooded costumes, lighting the fire set in the middle of the square of Vila Boa, surrounded by the remaining people, while the remaining masked “máscaros” wait for the flames to rise.Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, January 2020 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetidehttps://photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I0000Stc.SzvMdrg

That magical moment when the last rays of sunshine only light the trees and the stone walls that surround the pastures in the Mirandese plateau. Miranda do Douro, Portugal  🇵🇹, December 2018 #portugal #trasosmontes photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I00…

The “Velha” (Old Woman) character carries a burned cork cross, meant to smudge all those who don’t give a small offering. This is one of the festivities of the Mirandese Plataeu from my latest blog post. Vila Chã de Braciosa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, January 2020 #portugal #trasosmontes #wintersolstice #festadomeninohttps://photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I0000pXRyG5Ckd_4

Social distancing voting… Portugal’s 2021 presidential elections under a general lockdown.  Lisbon, Portugal 🇵🇹, January 2021   #street #lisbon #portugal

Often I hear people I meet in Trás-Os-Montes complaining about fog, that it didn’t use to be like that, that it has to do with this and that, and I nod agreeing with them. But the truth is I pack my bags thinking if that that year I’ll get some of it, hoping that I can find dawns that surround everything like this small shrine was as I was going to have my breakfast.Bragança, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal 🇵🇹, December 2019 #portugal #trasosmontes

Snowy mornings like this could make someone feel like they’re not in the southwest corner of Europe. As a friend of mined named it once: “our little big north”… Bragança, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal 🇵🇹, February 2018 #portugal #trasosmontes