Info requested on Portuguese customs
Dear Mr Wilson,
I just discovered your fabulous site and I expect to spend many happy hours browsing through it this summer (I live in Europe). I have a question for you. Would you know what the origin is of the Portuguese custom of beating perfect strangers on the head with squeaky hammers or leeks on St. John's Eve and Day (24 and 25 June)? I've already done some searching, nut haven't found an answer yet. I've been to this site with pages that describe customs and devotions related to the liturgical year, including St. John's Eve & St. John's Day.
This site, although very interesting, sadly makes no mention of people pummeling each other with either leeks or hammers. Nor does this one, which describes all manner of Midsummer (St John's Eve) celebrations from pre-christian times to the present.
Can you help me?
Best wishes,
Catherine
Can you help Catherine?Click to email her, and I would be grateful if you'd advise me too, thank you.
I just discovered your fabulous site and I expect to spend many happy hours browsing through it this summer (I live in Europe). I have a question for you. Would you know what the origin is of the Portuguese custom of beating perfect strangers on the head with squeaky hammers or leeks on St. John's Eve and Day (24 and 25 June)? I've already done some searching, nut haven't found an answer yet. I've been to this site with pages that describe customs and devotions related to the liturgical year, including St. John's Eve & St. John's Day.
This site, although very interesting, sadly makes no mention of people pummeling each other with either leeks or hammers. Nor does this one, which describes all manner of Midsummer (St John's Eve) celebrations from pre-christian times to the present.
Can you help me?
Best wishes,
Catherine
Can you help Catherine?
Pip Wilson posted item above at 5:04 PM | Permalink
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1 Comments:
There is a joke around here about one Englander standing at the bus queue, reading his morning newspaper (of course). A second guy arrives and sheared him “Good Morning!” with a wide smile on his face; the Englander didn’t move an eye. A third guy arrived, presumably an Englander’s friend and said:”Hi John, how are you this morning?”. “Bad” said the Englander, “this gentleman here spoke to me”.
In our societies, we are isolated in our own islands, in our private worlds. Communication, sometimes, is difficult.
The soft plastic hammer on a head of a perfect stranger (it does not hurt at all) is a way of breaking social barriers - which are present in the society all year long - during a very dear solstice fiesta at Oporto City, which occurs at Saint John’s eve of 23rd June. During the fiesta taking place at the downtown streets of Oporto, people of all classes, rich and poor, gathers to celebrate the beginning of the summer, following the ancestral Celtic heritage.
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