Culture of Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim, in Portugal is an ethno-cultural entity stemming from its working classes and with influences arriving from the maritime route from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean.

means "Go upwards" and it represents the co-operation between the inhabitants while docking a boat in the beach, and it is also seen as the motto of Póvoa de Varzim.

In the book The Races of Europe (1939), Povoans were considered to be slightly blonder than average, with wide faces of unknown origin and robust cheeks.

[3] In a research published in O Poveiro (1908), using 19th century scientific methodology, the anthropologist Fonseca Cardoso considered that an anthropological element, most noticeably the aquiline nose, was of semitic-Phoenician origin.

[4] Ramalho Ortigão when he wrote about Póvoa in the book "As Praias de Portugal" (1876), The Beaches of Portugal, stated that the main curiosity of Póvoa was the Povoan fishermen, that was a special "race" in the Portuguese coastline; completely different from the Mediterranean type typical of Ovar and Olhão, Povoans are of "Saxon" type: they are "fair-haired, clear eyes, wide shoulders, athletic chest, herculean legs and arms, round and strong faces.

"[5] More recently, Óscar Fangueiro noticed that the Nordic influence could have happened during the late Middle Ages when Portugal built diplomatic ties with Denmark.

Since the 18th century, the urban expansion of Póvoa de Varzim to the south, created the new fishing communities of Poça da Barca and Caxinas in the municipality of Vila do Conde.

These also contributed to the identity of Póvoa de Varzim with traditions such as Masseira farm fields and the Povoan cart, the Carroça Poveira.

Óscar Fangueiro, author of Sete Séculos na Vida dos Poveiros (Seven centuries in the Life of Povoans) contradicted the fisher endogamous theory.

With the development of fishery and, in more recent periods, beach therapy, Póvoa got even more immigration, to such an extent that the city had regional bonds stretching from Galicia, Minho, Trás-os-Montes and Beira, provinces .

[8] The 20th century brought significant changes due to the popularization of beach tourism with several people from Northern Portugal, chiefly from Guimarães and Famalicão, moving to the city.

[9][10] Octávio Filgueiras noticed that "Appeared in Galicia boats and fishermen arriving from the north, after the critical period of the Viking and Norman raids" and "one of the most important features is the cultural unity of these fisher communities that used primitive ships".

Also, unlike the rest of the nation, it is the woman who governs and leads the family – this matriarchy is derived from the fact that the man was usually fishing at sea.

An 1868 magazine article stated: "It is said, for a long time in Minho [Region], that the fishermen of Póvoa de Varzim were so superstitious, that the women when there were storms, and wanting to beg to their favorite saint or saints to free their husbands boats from the gorging ocean, they said absurd and extravagant blasphemies, like a savage people could do in front of the most ridiculous idols.

"[8] And continued: "What is correct is that not only the women of Bairro de S.José district, but also the ones from Bairro da Lapa, that in a moment of overwhelming anxiety, when the angry and raging waves brought to the beach a cadaver with each wave; in those moments, the poor women reveal the pain that tormented them and went to the sand grounds and the ocean with a sad outcry and painful praying.

On Sundays and holy days the fishermen did not go to sea because of a story concerning a Corpus Christi festival that brought numerous visitors to Póvoa de Varzim.

It is of ancient cult in Póvoa, and was common to see groups of fishermen, holding lights in their hands, making pilgrimage to the Cape's chapel on the last evening of November.

Despite being barely inhabited since ancient times, Saint Andrew Chapel was built in the 16th century and is the burial site of drowned fishermen found in the cape.

Tia Desterra, a notable local storyteller, always listened to these stories as a child, claimed to see the damned calf on a windy summer evening.

Fonte da Bica fountain, the early water source for the city center, was a place in which the people believed the Devil appeared during Friday nights with the full moon.

Diana Bar, currently the beach library, was a traditional writers meeting place in the early 20th century, and was where José Régio passed his free time writing.

[18] Other famous writers closely associated with the city are Almeida Garrett, Camilo Castelo Branco, António Nobre, Agustina Bessa-Luís, D. António da Costa, Ramalho Ortigão, João Penha, Oliveira Martins, Antero de Figueiredo, Raul Brandão, Teixeira de Pascoaes, Alexandre Pinheiro Torres.

In modern times, the city gained international prominence with Correntes d'Escritas, a literary festival where writers from the Portuguese and Spanish-speaking world gather in a variety of presentations and an annual award for best new release.

Grace Kelly, princess of Monaco, had a Camisola Poveira and took a famous family picture using it.Today, there are some efforts to modernize it on one hand and on the other there are endeavours to preserve the long-established practices.

[15] Vernacular architecture in the fishermen district were described by Raul Brandão as "Eskimo borrows", much of these simple houses were very low buildings and while most were lost, some kept existing to the modern period, some as ruins.

Families who emigrated to the United States and beyond, have been known to come back to Póvoa, time and again, simply to relish the spectacular feelings of excitement and community present at this festival.

On August 15, there is the Feast of the Assumption, one of the largest of this kind in Portugal, the pinnacle of the procession occurs in front of the seaport, where fireworks are launched from carefully arranged boats.

The celebration of Saint Andrew occurs on the dawn of the last day of November, when groups of men and women, wearing black hoods and holding lamps, go to the chapel via the beach.

The most traditional ingredients of the local cuisine are locally-grown vegetables, such as collard greens, cabbage, turnip broccoli, potato, onion, tomato, and a wide variety of fish.

Jogo da Péla is a Povoan handball game, related with Jeu de paume and tennis, played outdoors by two groups of equal number of men and women.