Sunday, June 24, 2007

S. João


Party! Today's St. John's day and he is the guardian of Porto, so that means party in the previous night. And the typical party usually involves: these plants that you see in the picture, called manjericos, that smell lovely when you touch them; grilled sardines (Kimananda doesn't like sardines! so there's meat for her, if she wants ;) and peppers; plastic hammers to hit people in the heads with; some kind of nasty smelling plant called alho-porro that you rub into other people's faces (it's a little aggressive this party, lol); wonderful paper balloons that get thrown in the air with a flame inside; fireworks and firecrackers; popular music and dancing in the street, bonfires to jump....and lots of people!

14 comments:

Niall young said...

Party!!!!!!Sounds like a wonderful time!..I wonder what the origin of having a bunch of leaves stuffed in your face is all about?

diyadear said...

sounds fun.. n an aggressive party?? wow all the more fun he he

holy chaos said...

Fun! i just finished reading a book by a woman from Portugal called "Silent Partner" . He name is Dina Matos.

Devil Mood said...

Niall: I have no idea, probably just a teaser, like the plastic hammers.

Diyadear: It's mostly friendly but some people get angry at being hit in the head repetitively. No wonder...

Holychaos: Really? I don't think I ever heard of her. You are a voracious reader :)

dharmabum said...

eh? plant, fish, meat and all is alright. but where are the drinks? :D

Devil Mood said...

Dharmabum: Oops, my mistake - the drink of preference would be wine, of course! :)

fb said...

Ooh I think you have to put your photojournalist hat on and take pictures of these party people.

Where is this big signing Liverpool were supposedley going to make in the past 2 weeks!?

So Wimbledon has started...do you have a favourite?

I want Roddick to win because he looks like Stifler from 'American Pie'.

Anonymous said...

it sounds like so much fun. Party for me.

Day

Devil Mood said...

FB: I didn't take my camera, sadly, because it's not good at night.
The transfer market has been quiet, hasn't it? Especially since Abramovitch closed his wallet lol.
I don't have a favourite in Wimbledon - did you see the 2nd part of Moya vs. Henman today? It was great! And Roddick is much better looking than that, my female opinion ;)

Day: Well, S.Joao is gone now, but on friday there's S. Pedro ;)

Stephanie said...

I have to say, by comparison to...well, everywhere else, our holidays are so bland and boring!

I'd love to know how all the customs came to be...why a flame in a balloon? What does it all mean?

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Ooooh, party time. Have fun, party hard, and stay safe.
Take care, Meow

Devil Mood said...

Stephanie: I really don't know where all of that comes from, it's simply tradition and we follow it. The balloon is quite simple: it's a paper balloon, like those common in Asia I think, and there has to be a flame inside so it inflates and flies. It's so beautiful to see all those balloons in the air :)

Meow: Will do :)

kimananda said...

It sounds like Santo Antonio (except for the hammers), in which case, I'll do just fine with some chorico and caldo verde (and maybe, just maybe, it's time to get myself a PT keyboard...it looks funny without the accents!)

Devil Mood said...

Kim: Yes, it's similar but there's no hammers or alho porro in Sto. Antonio. I can't believe I forgot about caldo verde - it was delicious, especially because it was so cold at night. The coldest S.Joao night I can remember (just to be solidary I'm not using accents ;)