Culture of Portugal - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The culture of Portugal is the result of a complex flow of different civilization

Civilization

Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...

s during the past Millennia. From prehistoric cultures

Prehistoric Iberia

The prehistory of the Iberian peninsula begins with the arrival of the first hominins 1.2 million years ago and ends with the Punic Wars, when the territory enters the domains of written history...

, to its Pre-Roman civilizations

Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula

This is a list of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian peninsula .-Non-Indo-European:*Aquitanians**Aquitani**Autrigones - some consider them Celtic .**Caristii - some consider them Celtic ....

(such as the Lusitanians

Lusitanians

The Lusitanians were an Indo-European people living in the Western Iberian Peninsula long before it became the Roman province of Lusitania . They spoke the Lusitanian language which might have been Celtic. The modern Portuguese people see the Lusitanians as their ancestors...

, the Gallaeci, the Celtici

Celtici

]The Celtici were a Celtic tribe or group of tribes of the Iberian peninsula, inhabiting three definite areas: in what today are the provinces of Alentejo and the Algarve in Portugal; in the Province of Badajoz and north of Province of Huelva in Spain, in the ancient Baeturia; and along the...

, and the Cynetes

Cynetes

The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Low Alentejo regions of southern Portugal before the 6th century BCE .They are often mentioned in the ancient sources under various designations, mostly Greek or Latin derivatives of their...

, amongst others), passing through its contacts with the Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...

n-Carthaginian

Carthage

Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...

world, the Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

period (see Hispania

Hispania

Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....

, Lusitania

Lusitania

Lusitania or Hispania Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...

and Gallaecia

Gallaecia

Gallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...

), the Germanic invasions and consequent settlement

Migration Period

The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...

of the Suevi and Buri

Buri (Germanic tribe)

The Buri were a Germanic tribe mentioned in the Germania of Tacitus, where they initially "close the back" of the Marcomanni and Quadi of Bohemia and Moravia. It is said that their speech and customs were like those of the Suebi...

(see Suebic Kingdom of Galicia

Suebic Kingdom of Galicia

The Suebic Kingdom of Galicia was the first independent barbarian Christian kingdom of Western Europe and the first to separate from the Roman Empire, as well as the first one to mint coins. Based in Gallaecia, it was established in 410 and lasted as independent state until 584, after a century of...

) and the Visigoth

Visigoth

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...

(see Visigothic Kingdom

Visigothic Kingdom

The Visigothic Kingdom was a kingdom which occupied southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to 8th century AD. One of the Germanic successor states to the Western Roman Empire, it was originally created by the settlement of the Visigoths under King Wallia in the province of...

), and, finally, the Moorish

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

Umayyad invasion of Hispania and the subsequent Reconquista

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

, all have made an imprint on the country's culture and history.

The name of Portugal itself reveals much of the country's early history, stemming from the Roman name Portus Cale
Portus Cale
Portus Cale was the old name of an ancient town and port in current day Portugal. It was located in the north of Portugal, in the area of today's Grande Porto.-Early History:...

, a Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

name meaning "Port of Cale", later transformed into Portucale
Grande Porto
Grande Porto or Greater Porto is a Portuguese NUTS3 subregion, integrating the NUTS2 region of Norte, in Portugal.It corresponds to 11 municipalities out of 16, the other 5 in Entre Douro e Vouga Subregion that constitute the larger Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto, centered in the city of Porto....

, and finally into Portugal, who emerged as a county of the Kingdom of León

Kingdom of León

The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...

(see First County of Portugal and Second County of Portugal) and became an independent kingdom

Kingdom of Portugal

The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...

in 1139. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal was a major economic, political, and cultural power, its global empire

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...

stretching from Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

to the Indies

Indies

The Indies is a term that has been used to describe the lands of South and Southeast Asia, occupying all of the present India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and also Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Malaysia and...

.

Portugal, as a country with a long history, is home to several ancient architectural structures, as well as typical art, furniture and literary collections mirroring and chronicling the events that shaped the country and its peoples. It has a large number of cultural landmarks ranging from museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

s to ancient church buildings to medieval castle

Castles in Portugal

Castles in Portugal were crucial components of the military across history. The Portuguese learned the art of fortification construction from the Romans and the Moors. The Romans, who ruled and colonized the territory of current-day Portugal for more than 4 centuries, built forts with high walls...

s, which testify its rich national cultural heritage.

Overview

The Portuguese participate in many cultural activities, indulging their appreciation of art, music, drama, and dance. Portugal has a rich traditional folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

(Ranchos Folclóricos), with great regional variety. Many cities and towns have a museum and a collection of ancient monuments and buildings. Many towns have at least a cinema, some venues to listen to music and locations to see arts and crafts. In the larger cities visits to the theatre, concerts or galleries of modern exhibitions are popular, and Portugal can boast not only international-scale venues in Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, Porto

Porto

Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...

, Braga

Braga

Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...

, Guimarães

Guimarães

Guimarães Municipality is located in northwestern Portugal in the province of Minho and in the Braga District. It contains the city of Guimarães.The present Mayor is António Magalhães Silva, elected by the Socialist Party.-Parishes:-Economy:...

and Coimbra

Coimbra

Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...

but also many acclaimed artists from various disciplines. The importance of the arts is illustrated by the fact that on the death of Amália Rodrigues

Amália Rodrigues

Amália da Piedade Rodrigues, GCSE, GCIH, , also known as Amália Rodrigues was a Portuguese singer and actress.She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. She was one of the most important figures in the genre's development, and enjoyed a...

, the "Queen of Fado" (fado

Fado

Fado is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar, Rui Vieira Nery, states that "the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best...

is Portugal's national music) in October 1999, three days of national mourning was declared. In 1998, José Saramago

José Saramago

José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...

, one of Portugal's well-known writers, was awarded the Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

for literature. In 2001, Porto was European Capital of Culture

European Capital of Culture

The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....

, contributing to a current renaissance in artistic creation, and in 2004 Portugal hosted the European football finals in specially constructed stadiums.

In smaller towns and villages, cultural activity may revolve around local folklore, with musical groups performing traditional dance and song. Local festivities are very popular during the summer season in all kinds of localities ranging from villages to cities, as well as beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

holidays from July to September. Portuguese people in almost all major towns and the cities like to go shopping in malls which are generally well equipped with modern facilities and offer a wide variety of attractions ranging from shops and stores of the most renowned brands to cinemas, restaurants and hypermarkets. Café

Café

A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...

culture is also regarded as an important cultural feature of the Portuguese. As the most popular sport, football events

Football in Portugal

- History :Football started to gain popularity in Portugal in the late 19th century, brought by Portuguese students who returned from England.right|250px|thumb...

involving major Portuguese teams are always widely followed with great enthusiasm. There are a number of bullring

Bullring

A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with Spain, but they can also be found in neighboring countries and the New World...

s in Portugal, although the passion for bullfighting

Portuguese-style bullfighting

Portuguese-style bullfighting differs in many aspects from Spanish-style bullfighting. The cavaleiros and the forcados are unique as well as the horsewomen .-Main figures:...

varies from region to region.

Architecture

Since the second millennium BC, there has been important construction in the area where Portugal is situated today. Portugal boasts several scores of medieval castles, as well as the ruins of several villas and forts from the period of Roman occupation. Modern Portuguese architecture follow the most advanced trends seen in European mainstream architecture with no constraints, though preserving some of its singular characteristics. The azulejo

Azulejo

Azulejo from the Arabic word Zellige زليج is a form of Portuguese or Spanish painted, tin-glazed, ceramic tilework. They have become a typical aspect of Portuguese culture, having been produced without interruption for five centuries...

and the Portuguese pavement

Portuguese pavement

Portuguese pavement , is a traditional style pavement used for many pedestrian areas in Portugal, it can also be found in Olivenza , and throughout the old Portuguese colonies such as Brazil and Macau...

are two typical elements of Portuguese-style architecture. Portugal is perhaps best known for its distinctive Manueline

Manueline

The Manueline, or Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century, incorporating maritime elements and representations of the discoveries brought from the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro Álvares Cabral...

architecture with its rich, intricate designs attributed to Portugal's Age of Discoveries.

Dance

Folk dance

The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....

s include: Circle dance

Circle dance

"Circle dance" is the most common name for a style of traditional dance usually done in a circle without partners to musical accompaniment.-Description:...

, Fandango

Fandango

Fandango is a lively couple's dance, usually in triple metre, traditionally accompanied by guitars and castanets or hand-clapping . Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has an instrumental introduction followed by "variaciones"...

(of the Ribatejo

Ribatejo

The Ribatejo is the most central of the traditional provinces of Portugal, with no coastline or border with Spain. The region is crossed by the Tagus River...

region), Two Steps Waltz

Two Steps Waltz

The Two Steps Waltz is a dance, possibly a waltz referred to by the Portuguese as the Bato pe .It is a folk dance of Portugal.The pairs are embraced, placed in a circle. They start by taking two lateral steps towards the interior of the circle and them return to the initial position. Next, they...

, Schottische

Schottische

The schottische is a partnered country dance, that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina , Finland , France, Italy, Norway , Portugal and Brazil , Spain ...

(Chotiça), Corridinho

Corridinho

The corridinho is a form of Portuguese dance, namely in the Algarve. It is danced with the pairs always embraced, forming a circle, girls inside and the boys outside the circle. By rotating the circle the pairs evolve side by side. At a certain time, when the music as a stronger beat, their feet...

(of the Algarve and Estremadura

Estremadura Province (historical)

Estremadura Province is one of the six historical provinces of Portugal....

regions), Vira (of the Minho region), Bailarico

Bailarico

Bailarico is a Portuguese folk dance. The pairs face each other without holding each other, and with their backs turned to the neighboring pair, form a circle. In the first part of the music, the circle rotates with the girls backing up and the boys going towards them. They take baby bouncing...

, Vareirinha, Malhão, Vareira, Maneio, Vira de Cruz, Vira Solto, Vira de Macieira, Sapatinho, Tau-Tau, Ciranda, Zé que Fumas, Regadinho, O Pedreiro and Ó Ti Taritatu. There are also variations of these dances called the Chamarita in the Azores. Dance apparel is highly varied, ranging from work clothes to the Sunday best, with rich distinguished from the poor.

Cinema

In the 1990s around 10 full-length fictional works were produced per annum, Portugal's filmmakers tending to be artisan

Artisan

An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...

s. Financing of Portuguese cinema is by state grants and from television stations. The internal market is very small and Portuguese penetration of international markets is fairly precarious. A film is considered a success when it draws an audience of more than 150.000, which few Portuguese films manage to achieve.

Director Manoel de Oliveira

Manoel de Oliveira

Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira, GCSE is a Portuguese film director born in Cedofeita, Porto. He began working on films in the late 1920s, but did not receive international recognition until the early 1970s. Since the late 1980s he has been one of the most prolific working film directors and...

is the oldest director in the world, and continues to make films at the age of 100. Since 1990 has made an average of one film per annum. He has received international recognition awards and won the respect of the cinematography community all over the world. Retrospectives of his works have been shown at the Los Angeles Film Festival

Los Angeles Film Festival

The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...

(1992), the National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...

in Washington, D.C. (1993), the San Francisco Film Festival, and the Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...

(1994). Despite his international recognition, the films of Oliveira (and that of other Portuguese directors) are neglected locally.

João César Monteiro

João César Monteiro

João César Monteiro was a Portuguese film director, actor, writer and film critic . He was born in Figueira da Foz on February 2, 1939 and died of cancer in Lisbon on February 3, 2003.- Life and career :...

, a member of the generation that founded the "New Portuguese Cinema" in the 1960s, a provocative film maker in the 1990s made "O Último Mergulho" (1992), "A Comédia de Deus" (1995), "Le Bassin de John Wayne" (1997) and "As Bodas de Deus" (1998). "A Comédia de Deus" won the Jury's Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

in 1995.

Teresa Villaverde

Teresa Villaverde

Teresa Villaverde is a Portuguese film director. Her film Os Mutantes was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.-Awards:...

is a younger filmmaker and in the 1990s she surfaced as a director, her film (Três Irma's, 1994) won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival.

Comedy

A Canção de Lisboa
A Canção de Lisboa
A Canção de Lisboa is a Portuguese film comedy from 1933, directed by José Cottinelli Telmo, and starring Vasco Santana, Beatriz Costa, António Silva, Alfredo Silva, Ana Maria, Artur Rodrigues, Coralia Escobar, Eduardo Fernandes, Elvira Coutinho, Fernanda Campos, Francisco Costa, Henrique Alves,...

: (lit. Lisbon Song) is a Portuguese film comedy from 1933, directed by José Cottinelli Telmo, and starring Vasco Santana and Beatriz Costa. Manuel de Oliveira had a minor role in this film. It was the second Portuguese sound feature film (the first was A Severa, a 1931 documentary by Manoel de Oliveira, was originally filmed without soundtrack, which was added afterwards), and still is one of the best-loved films in Portugal. Several of its lines and songs are still quoted today!

O Pai Tirano: (lit. The Tyrant Father) is a Portuguese film comedy from 1941, directed by António Lopes Ribeiro, starring Vasco Santana

Vasco Santana

Vasco Santana was a Portuguese actor, one of the most renowned of the classical era of Portuguese cinema....

, Francisco Ribeiro

Ribeirinho

Ribeirinho, stage name of Francisco Carlos Lopes Ribeiro was a Portuguese actor and director....

and Leonor Maia

Leonor Maia

Leonor Maia, pseudonym of Maria da Conceição de Vasconcelos was a Portuguese film actress active in the 1940s, best remembered for her role in The Tyrant Father. She retired from film in 1953....

. It's one of the best-known comedies of the Golden Age of Portuguese Cinema. Still popular six decades after its release.

Pátio das Cantigas: (lit. The Courtyard of Songs) A comedy/ musical from 1942 directed by Francisco Ribeiro, with Vasco Santana (as Narciso), António Silva

António Silva

António Maria da Silva was a Portuguese actor. He accumulated over 40 credits over his more than 50 years in acting.-Early life:...

(as Evaristo), Francisco Ribeiro (as Rufino) and others. It's a portrait of the relations between neighbours in a Lisbon courtyard. A story made of small episodes of humor, friendship, rivalry, and love.

Recent films

O Crime do Padre Amaro: (lit. The Crime of Father Amaro) is a Portuguese film (2005) adapted from a book of Eça de Queiroz, directed by Carlos Coelho da Silva. This was a low quality production sponsored by Sociedade Independente de Comunicação (television channel). Even so this film beat all the records of box- office of all the Portuguese films in Portugal. The main characters are Jorge Corrula

Jorge Corrula

Jorge Corrula is an Portuguese actor and fashion model. He got his first major role in the hit teen series Morangos com Açúcar...

as Padre Amaro and Soraia Chaves

Soraia Chaves

Soraia Chaves is a Portuguese actress and model. She became renowned by her role named "Amélia" in the film O Crime do Padre Amaro and her role named "Maria" in her following film Call Girl.-External links:...

as Amélia, and the main ingredients of this film are the sex and the nudity.

Zona J: is a Portuguese drama/romance film directed by Leonel Vieira in 1998, starring Sílvia Alberto as Fátima, Ana Bustorff as Conceição.

Sorte Nula: (lit. The Trunk) directed by Fernando Fragata, starring Helder Mendes, António Feio, Adelaide de Sousa, Rui Unas, Isabel Figueira, Bruno Nogueira, Carla Matadinho, Tânia Miller and Zé Pedro.

Meu Querido Mês de Agosto directed by Miguel Gomes is a fiction/documentary hybrid film that achieved some visibility at the Cannes Film Festival.

Cuisine

Food

Each region of Portugal has its traditional dishes, including various kinds of meat, seafood, fresh fish, dried and salted cod (bacalhau
Bacalhau
Bacalhau is the Portuguese word for codfish and—in a culinary context—dried and salted codfish. Fresh cod is referred to as bacalhau fresco .-Use:...

), and the famous Cozido à Portuguesa
Cozido à portuguesa
Cozido or cocido is one of the traditional dishes of Portuguese and Spanish cuisine. A stew made with different meats and vegetables, numerous regional variations exist throughout Portugal and Spain.-Portugal's cozido:...

, a stew.

Alcoholic beverages

Portugal is a country of wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

lovers and winemaker

Winemaker

A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:*Cooperating with viticulturists...

s, known since the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

-era; the Romans immediately associated Portugal with its God of Wine Bacchus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

. Today, many Portuguese wines are known as some of the world's best: Vinho do Douro

Vinho do Douro

Douro is a Portuguese wine region centered around the Douro River in the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro region. It is sometimes referred to as the Alto Douro , as it is located some distance upstream from Porto, sheltered by mountain ranges from coastal influence. The region has Portugal's highest...

, Vinho do Alentejo

Vinho do Alentejo

Alentejo is Portuguese wine region located in the Alentejo region of the country. The entire region is entitled to use the Vinho Regional designation Alentejano VR, while some areas are also classified at the higher Denominação de Origem Controlada level under the designation Alentejo DOC...

, Vinho do Dão

Vinho do Dão

Dão is a Portuguese wine region situated in the Região Demarcada do Dão with the Dão-Lafões sub region of the Centro, Portugal. It is one of the oldest established wine regions in Portugal. Dão wine is produced in a mountainous region with a temperate climate, in the area of the Rio Mondego and Dão...

, Vinho Verde

Vinho Verde

Vinho Verde is a Portuguese wine from the Minho region in the far north of the country. The name literally means "Green Wine" , referring to its youthful freshness that leads to a very slight green color on the edges of the wine. The region is characterized by its many small growers, which...

, and the sweet: Port Wine

Port wine

Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...

(Vinho do Porto, literally Porto's wine), Madeira wine

Madeira wine

Madeira is a fortified Portuguese wine made in the Madeira Islands. Some wines produced in small quantities in California and Texas are also referred to as "Madeira", or "Madera", although those wines do not conform to the EU PDO regulations...

, Muscatel of Setúbal

Setúbal Peninsula

Setúbal Peninsula is a peninsula in Portugal. The Portuguese language name is Península de Setúbal and gives its name to Península de Setúbal Subregion which coves more than only the peninsula....

and Moscatel of Favaios

Favaios

Favaios is a civil parish of the municipality of Alijó, in northern Portugal. The region is known for its wines, namely, the moscatels like Moscatel de Favaios.-History:...

. Beer

Beer

Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

is also widely consumed, with the largest national beer brands being Sagres and Super Bock

Super Bock

Super Bock is a Portuguese brand of strong pale lager from the Unicer brewery which produces a range of beers under the same name. Established in 1927, Unicer is based in Leça do Balio, just outside the city of Porto, Portugal...

. Liqueurs, like Licor Beirão

Licor Beirão

Licor Beirão is a Portuguese liqueur. Its recipe is a trade secret; the producer, J. Carranca Redondo, Lda., only states it is made from a double distillation of seeds and herbs from all over the world, including Malaysia, Brazil, and Thailand. It has 22% ABV.- Origin of the name :Beirão is...

and ginjinha

Ginjinha

Ginjinha or simply Ginja, is a liqueur made by infusing ginja berries, in alcohol and adding sugar together with other ingredients. Ginjinha is served in a shot form with a piece of the fruit in the bottom of the cup...

, are popular.

Literature

Portuguese literature has developed since the 12th century from the lyrical works of João Soares de Paiva

João Soares de Paiva

João Soares de Paiva was a Portuguese poet and nobleman; often recognised as the first author in the Galician-Portuguese language. He held lands in northern Portugal near the falls of the river Paiva and also in Aragon, near Monzón, Tudela, and Pamplona, near the border with Navarre, as fiefs of...

and Paio Soares de Taveirós

Paio Soares de Taveirós

Paio Soares de Taveirós or Paay Soarez de Taveiroos seems to have been a minor Galician nobleman and troubadour active during the second and third decades of the 13th century. He was a brother of the troubadour Pêro Velho de Taveirós...

. They wrote mostly from Portuguese oral traditions known as "cantigas de amor e amigo" and "cantigas de escárnio e maldizer" which were sung by troubadours.

Following chroniclers such as Fernão Lopes

Fernão Lopes

Fernão Lopes was a Portuguese chronicler appointed by King Edward of Portugal. Fernão Lopes wrote the history of Portugal, but only a part of his work remained....

after the 14th century, fiction has its roots in chronicles and histories with theatre following Gil Vicente

Gil Vicente

Gil Vicente , called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus,"[3] often referred to as the "Father of Portuguese drama" and as one of Western literature's...

, whose works was critical of the society of his time.

Classical lyrical texts include Os Lusíadas, by Luís de Camões

Luís de Camões

Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas...

with other authors including Antero de Quental

Antero de Quental

Antero Tarquínio de Quental , old spelling Anthero, , a Portuguese poet, philosopher and writer, whose works became a milestone in the Portuguese language, alongside those of Camões or Bocage....

, Almeida Garrett

Almeida Garrett

João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett, Viscount of Almeida Garrett was a Portuguese poet, playwright, novelist and politician. He is considered to be the introducer of the Romanticism in Portugal, with the epic poem Camões, based on the life of Luís de Camões...

and Camilo Pessanha

Camilo Pessanha

Camilo Pessanha was a Portuguese symbolist poet.-Early years:Camilo de Almeida Pessanha was born the illegitimate son of Francisco António de Almeida Pessanha, an aristocratic law student, and Maria do Espírito Santo Duarte Nunes Pereira, his housekeeper, on September 7, 1867, at 11.00 p.m., in Sé...

.

Portuguese modernism is found in the works of Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...

.

Following the Carnation Revolution

Carnation Revolution

The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...

in 1974, the Portuguese society, after several decades of repression, regained freedom of speech

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...

.

José Saramago

José Saramago

received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.

Herberto Helder

Herberto Hélder

Herberto Hélder de Oliveira is a Portuguese poet. He was born in Funchal, Madeira.- Biography :Herberto Helder was born into a family of Jewish ancestry in the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira. In 1946 he traveled to Lisbon to complete his secondary studies and subsequently in 1948 moved to...

is a younger poet highly considered in Portugal

Music

Portuguese musical traditions are diverse and dynamic, they reflect multifarious historical, cultural, and political processes with influences from non-European cultures from both North and sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil.

Polyphonic music, employing multiple vocal parts in harmony, was developed in the 15th century. The Renaissance fostered a rich output of compositions for solo instruments and ensembles as well as for the voice.

The 1960s started a period of expansion and innovation with pop, rock and jazz introduced and evolving, political song developed, the fado

Fado

of Lisbon and the Coimbra were revitalized. Music from the former African colonies and Brazil occupied an increasingly important place in the capital's musical life and local styles of rap and hip hop emerged.

The modern revival of academic music was primarily work of Luís de Freitas Branco, and continued by Joly Braga Santos. Composers like António Victorino d'Almeida, Jorge Peixinho

Jorge Peixinho

Jorge Peixinho was a Portuguese composer, pianist, and conductor.Peixinho studied composition and piano initially at the Conservatory of Lisbon , then studied composition with Boris Porena and Goffredo Petrassi at the Accademia de Santa Cecilia in Rome, graduating in 1961...

, Miguel Azguime, Pedro Amaral, and João Pedro Oliveira are known internationally. Orchestras include the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa and the Gulbenkian Orchestra

Gulbenkian Orchestra

The Gulbenkian Orchestra is a Portuguese symphony orchestra based in Lisbon. The orchestra primarily gives concerts at the Grande Auditório of the Gulbenkian Foundation....

. Oporto has had its own symphony orchestra since 1962, when the Chamber Orchestra was set up by the Gulbenkian Foundation. Lisbon also has a metropolitan orchestra, and the National Theatre of São Carlos in Lisbon, which was built in the late 18th century, has its own orchestra and ballet company. Among notable pianists, Maria João Pires

Maria João Pires

-Musical studies:Her first recital was at the age of five, and at the age of seven she was already playing Mozart Piano Concertos publicly. Two years later she received Portugal's top prize for young musicians. In the following years, she studied with Professor Campos Coelho at the Lisbon...

has won worldwide acclaim.

Cultural centres such as the Belém Cultural Centre and the Culturgest, both in Lisbon, have expanded opportunities for major concerts. Madredeus

Madredeus

Madredeus is a Portuguese band. Their music combines traditional Portuguese music with influences of modern folk music...

is among the most successful popular music groups. Singer Dulce Pontes

Dulce Pontes

Dulce José Silva Pontes is a Portuguese songwriter and singer who performs in many musical styles, including pop, folk and classical music. She is usually defined as a world music artist...

is also widely admired, and Carlos Paredes

Carlos Paredes

Carlos Paredes, ComSE, was a virtuoso Portuguese guitar player, born in Coimbra, son of the equally famous Artur Paredes. He is credited with popularising the medium internationally during the 20th century, being frequently considered to be the most talented Portuguese musician in the 20th century...

is considered by many to be Portugal's finest guitarist. Folk music and dancing and the traditional fado remain the country's fundamental forms of musical expression.

Fado

Fado (translated as destiny

Destiny

Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...

or fate) is a music genre

Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...

which can be traced from the 1820s, but possibly with much earlier origins. It is characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor. The music is usually linked to the Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

word saudade
Saudade
Saudade ) is a unique Galician-Portuguese word that has no immediate translation in English. Saudade describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. It often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return...

, a unique word with no accurate translation in any other language. (Home-sickness has an approximate meaning. It is a kind of longing, and conveys a complex mixture of mainly nostalgia, but also sadness, pain, happiness and love). Some enthusiasts claim that Fado's origins are a mixture of African slave

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

rhythms with the traditional music of Portuguese sailors and Arabic influence.

There are two main varieties of fado, namely those of the cities of Lisbon

Lisbon

and Coimbra

Coimbra

. The Lisbon style is the most popular, while Coimbra's is the more refined style. Modern fado is popular in Portugal, and has produced many renowned musicians. According to tradition, to applaud fado in Lisbon you clap your hands, in Coimbra you cough as if clearing your throat.

Mainstream fado performances during the 20th century included only a singer, a Portuguese guitar

Portuguese guitar

The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses comprising two strings each. It is one of the few musical instruments to use Preston tuners. It is most notably associated with fado.-History:The origin of the Portuguese...

player and a classical guitar player but more recent settings range from singer and string quartet to full orchestra.

The ingredients of Fado are a shawl, a guitar, a voice and heartfelt emotion.

Themes include: destiny, deep-seated feelings, disappointments in love, the sense of sadness and longing for someone who has gone away, misfortune, the ups and downs of life, the sea, the life of sailors and fishermen, and last but not least "Saudade" (one of the main themes used in fado, that means a kind of longing).

Fado is probably the oldest urban folk music in the world and represents the heart of the Portuguese soul, and for that matter fado performance is not successful if an audience is not moved to tears.

Portuguese rock

The Portuguese rock started to be noted in 1980 with the release of Ar de Rock by Rui Veloso

Rui Veloso

Rui Manuel Gaudêncio Veloso, commonly known as Rui Veloso, CavIH , is a Portuguese rock singer and musician. Regarded as the "father of Portuguese rock", this composer and interpreter had a great impact on the Portuguese music scene with the record Ar de Rock .Songs such as Chico Fininho and A...

, which was the first popular Portuguese rock song. Before that, Portugal had a vibrant underground progressive rock scene in the 1970s. Among the numerous bands and artists which followed its genesis, are Xutos & Pontapés

Xutos & Pontapés

Xutos & Pontapés are a Portuguese rock band, who got together in Almada, Portugal in 1978, 4 years after the Carnation Revolution. They started off in the local punk rock scene and set the trend - singing rock tunes in Portuguese...

, GNR

GNR (band)

GNR is a Portuguese band founded in 1981. This band shares its acronym with the Guarda Nacional Republicana and is inseparable from the concept of Portuguese rock. Many years after its creation, numerous recordings show the band's popularity...

, UHF

UHF (band)

UHF is a Canadian folk music supergroup, consisting of singer-songwriters Bill Henderson of Chilliwack fame, Shari Ulrich and Roy Forbes. The band's name comes from the initials of the members' surnames....

and Moonspell

Moonspell

Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band from Brandoa, Lisbon. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before the release of their first album Wolfheart...

Traditional music

In all the times and all places mankind always showed great ingenuity making sound and music from existing materials in its natural environment. The voice and the clapping of hands can certainly be considered the first instrumental forms used by man.

The Iberian Peninsula was home to a lot of different peoples and cultures, so its normal to these cultures to influence the others but still retain a little of their aspects - this happened with the Portuguese music. Even in the present one can find types of instruments from different places, such as the bagpipes

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

and the Arab adufe

Adufe

The adufe is a traditional square tambourine of Moorish origin, which is used in Portugal.-History:A Portuguese percussion instrument, it was traditionally used in the Beira and Trás-os-Montes regions. It was also used in many other regions across the Iberian Peninsula, and similar instruments are...

, but they are now and forever a part of the Portuguese culture. From the Pauliteiros de Miranda in the Terra de Miranda

Terra de Miranda

Terra de Miranda the historical name of a 500 km² mesa in northeastern Portugal, lying on the border of Spain...

to the Corridinho

Corridinho

in the Algarve, the traditional music and songs transpire a poetic character that tells the history of a community to other people and generations to come.

Popular music

The 1980s and 1990s were marked by the search for a new musical discourse in urban popular music, the increase, commodification and industrialization of musical production, and the mediatization and expansion of music consumption. The boom in Portuguese musical production was accompanied by both the diversification of the musical domains and styles produced and consumed in Portugal and the emergence of new styles which are increasingly taking the global market into account. The denominated Pop music uses melodies easily to memorize, becoming very popular and commercial; it's also characterized by the amount of publicity made (through videos, magazines, appealing clothing, etc.).

It is possible to note two stylistic tendencies in the popular music of the 1980s and 1990s:

A musical discourse created by Portuguese musicians that is integrated within the major international developments experienced by commercial popular music;
A new musical style that vindicates its Portugueseness by both drawing upon various musical elements which musicians and audiences alike identify as Portuguese and emphasizing the Portuguese language.

Folk

Folk music is the joint of the traditional songs of a community that express through a poetic character their beliefs and tell their history to other people and generations. The danças do vira (Minho), Pauliteiros de Miranda (Miranda), Corridinho do Algarve or Bailinho (Madeira), are some examples of dances created by the sound of folk. Some of the typical instruments used are a guitar, mandolin, bagpipes, accordion, violin, drums, Portuguese guitar and an enormous variety of wind and percussion instruments.

Philharmonic music

In the popular culture the philharmonic bands represent each locality and play different types of music, from popular to classical. Lidia Costa, Carlos Marques, Alberto Madurai, José Caminos and Railcar Morays are some of the most important names in philharmonic music.

Canções de intervenção (political songs)

Political songs (canções de intervenção) played an important part in the protests against the totalitarian regime that ruled Portugal from 1926 up to the 1974 revolution. Once it was created as an object to criticize what was wrong, mainly in a political point of view. One of its main protagonists was José (Zeca) Afonso (1929–1987) but others also contributed to its development, for example Adriano Correia de Oliveira, José Mário Branco, Luís Cilia, Francisco Fanhais, José Jorge Letria, José Barata Moura and Sérgio Godinho. They traced a new course for urban popular music and influenced a further generation of musicians, some of whom also participated in the protest movement and are still active, including Fausto, Vitorino, Janita Salomé and Júlio Pereira, among others.

This musical style reflects a confluence of influences from traditional music, French urban popular songs of the 1960s, African music and Brazilian popular music. By the late 1970s the revolutionary climate had subsided and the need to express political militancy through song was no longer felt by poets, composers and singers, who subsequently redefined both their role and their creative contribution.

Classical music

Portugal has been an important centre of practice and production of music over the centuries, as the music history of Portugal

Music history of Portugal

-Liturgical repertoire:In the early days of the Catholic Church, several local liturgies developed, such as the Gallican in France, the Sarum in England, the antique Roman in Rome, the Ambrosian rite in Milan...

expresses. In contemporary classical music, notable Portuguese musicians include the pianists Artur Pizarro

Artur Pizarro

Artur Pizarro is a Portuguese pianist of international acclaim. He performs internationally in solo recitals, in duos, with chamber music groups, and as a soloist with the world's leading orchestras. He has an extensive discography available on Linn Records, as well as on Naxos, Hyperion, Collins...

, Maria João Pires

Maria João Pires

and equeira Costa, and the composers: Fernando Lopes-Graça

Fernando Lopes-Graça

Fernando Lopes-Graça, GOSE, GCIH was a Portuguese composer and conductor of the 20th century...

, Emmanuel Nunes

Emmanuel Nunes

-Biography:Nunes was born in Lisbon, where he studied composition, first from 1959 to 1963 at the Academia de Amadores de Música with Francine Benoit, and then with Fernando Lopes Graça at the University . He then attended courses at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse , and in 1964 moved to Paris...

, João Pedro Oliveira, Jorge Peixinho

Jorge Peixinho

, Constança Capdeville

Constança Capdeville

Constança Capdeville was a Portuguese pianist, percussionist, music educator and composer. She was born in Barcelona and lived in the village of Caxias as a child, writing piano compositions at an early age...

, Clotilde Rosa

Clotilde Rosa

Clotilde Rosa is a Portuguese harpist, music educator and composer.-Biography:Clotilde Rosa was born in Queluz, Portugal, and began piano lessons at age ten with Ivone Santos. She also began harp lessons at the age of twelve under Cecilia Borba at the Lisbon Conservatory...

, Fernando Corrêa de Oliveira

Fernando Corrêa de Oliveira

Fernando Corrêa de Oliveira was a Portuguese composer. Among his works are numerous pieces for orchestra, as well as a deal of chamber music; he also composed some vocal pieces and two operas, one of which, O Cábula, was the first Portuguese opera for children.-Reference:*...

, Cláudio Carneyro, Frederico de Freitas

Frederico de Freitas

Frederico de Freitas was a Portuguese composer, conductor, musicologist, and pedagogue. He composed in many genres.-Reference:*...

, Joly Braga Santos

Joly Braga Santos

José Manuel Joly Braga Santos, ComSE was a Portuguese composer and conductor, who was born and died in Lisbon. He wrote six symphonies.-Biography:...

and Isabel Soveral

Isabel Soveral

Isabel M. M. Abranches de Soveral is a Portuguese composer. She studied at the Portuguese National Conservatoire with the composers Jorge Peixinho and Joly Braga Santos with a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation...

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

has been important since the 1980s with areas like Chelas, Amadora, Cacém and the South Bank of the Tagus are considered to be the cradle of Hip Hop Tuga

Hip hop Tuga

Portuguese hip hop more usually known as Hip Hop Tuga is the Portuguese variety of hip hop music.Hip Hop Tuga is different from mainstream hip hop because it has strong influences from African music from Lusophone Africa, Reggae, and Portuguese Fado...

.

The compilation called "Rapublica" released in 1994, which featured young rising artists and groups such as Black Company

Black Company

The Black Company or the Black Troops was a unit of Franconian mercenaries during the Peasant's Revolt in the 1520s during the Protestant Reformation in Germany.The original German name of the Black Company was "Schwarzer Haufen"...

and Boss Ac

Boss AC

Boss AC is a Portuguese rapper originally from Cape Verde. His albums include "Preto no Branco","Ritmo, Amor e Palavras" , "Rimar contra a Maré" and "TPC"....

, is responsible for establishing hip hop in Portugal. The refrain from a song called "Não sabe nadar, yo" ("Cant swim, yo!") was used by the president of Portugal, Mário Soares

Mário Soares

Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL, KE , Portuguese politician, served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996.-Family:...

in a speech about the cave painting in Foz Côa saying that "As gravuras não sabem nadar, yo!" ("The paintings can’t swim, yo!").

Apart from Lisbon

Lisbon

, other urban centers also established vibrant hip hop scenes during the early nineties, especially Porto

Porto

, that gave birth to important groups such as Mind Da Gap. More recently other local scenes have also developed on other urban centers, such as Coimbra

Coimbra

and Faro.

There are two major showcase events, Flowfest and Hip Hop Porto. Flowfest, in Coimbra, started in 2005. Hip Hop Porto is a free event held at Casa da Música, in September. It features mainly the northern hip hop names as headliners, drawing a very local audience. Its first edition in 2005 carded Rodney P, NBC, Blackmastah, Bomberjack, Rui Miguel Abreu, etc. Usually the event is held outdoors, but in 2006 the heavy rains made the event relocate to the parking lot of the building, causing a really "underground" look.

Student festivals

Festivals organised by students of several higher education institutions, take place every year across the country, being the one held at Coimbra

Coimbra

the oldest and most traditional of all, copied and adapted by other universities. These include the music festivals of Queima das Fitas
Queima das Fitas
The Queima das Fitas is a traditional festivity of the students of some Portuguese universities, organized originally by the students of the University of Coimbra.- History :...

and Semana Académica (Aveiro, Braga

Braga

, Coimbra

Coimbra

, Covilhã

Covilhã

Covilhã is a city in Covilha Municipality in Centro region, Portugal. The city proper has 36,723 inhabitants, and the municipality has an area of 555.6 km² with a total population of 53,501, being composed of 31 parishes. It is located in the Cova da Beira subregion, in the district of...

, Faro

Faro, Portugal

Faro is the southernmost city in Portugal. It is located in the Faro Municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934 inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the Faro District and capital of the Algarve region...

, Lisbon

Lisbon

, Porto

Porto

, etc.) and Festa das Latas (Coimbra

Coimbra

Summer musical festivals

Summer festivals include: Vilar de Mouros

Vilar de Mouros

Vilar de Mouros is a civil parish in the municipality of Caminha, Portugal. Located on the banks of the Coura, 7 km from the municipal seat, it became famous as the location of the oldest rock festival in Portugal - the Vilar de Mouros Festival....

Festival, Festival Sudoeste, Rock in Rio

Rock in Rio

Rock in Rio is a series of music festivals held in three cities: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Lisbon in Portugal and Madrid in Spain.Four incarnations of the festival were in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, 2001 and 2011, four in Lisbon, in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, and two in Madrid in 2008 and 2010....

Lisboa, Super Bock Super Rock

Super Bock Super Rock

Super Bock Super Rock is a rock festival in Portugal, created in 1994.It has become one of the biggest festivals in the country, luring many rock and metal fans....

, Festival de Paredes de Coura, Ilha do Ermal Festival, etc.

List of Portuguese musicians

Musicians cannot always be classified only as performers of only one type of music, because they evolve and their music also evolves. Below is a list of a few well known Portuguese bands and solo singers in alphabetical order.
A-H

Aldina Duarte
Amália Rodrigues
Amália Rodrigues
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues, GCSE, GCIH, , also known as Amália Rodrigues was a Portuguese singer and actress.She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. She was one of the most important figures in the genre's development, and enjoyed a...
Amélia Muge
Amélia Muge
Amélia Muge is a Mozambiqua-born Portuguese singer, instrumentalist, composer and lyricist. She is noted for her fine fado voice and poetic lyrics.-Discography:* Múgica * Todos os Dias...
António Variações
António Variações
António Joaquim Rodrigues Ribeiro, was a Portuguese singer and songwriter. Despite his short-lived career, due to his premature death at the age of thirty-nine, he would, under the stage name of António Variações, become one of the most culturally significant performing artists of recent...
António Vitorino de Almeida
B Fachada
Ban
Banda do Casaco
Banda do Casaco
Banda do Casaco are a Portuguese Prog-Folk band active from 1974 to 1984 considered by some to be one of Portugal's greatest Progressive rock bands...
Blasted Mechanism
Blasted Mechanism
Blasted Mechanism is a Portuguese electro-rock band known for its highly theatrical live shows involving elaborated alien-themed costumes as a backdrop to their music....
Blind Zero
Blind Zero
Blind Zero are a Portuguese rock band from the city of Porto. They have won the 2003 MTV Europe Music Award for the Best Portuguese Act.-History:...
Camané
Camané
Camané is a male vocalist, and a forerunner of the new generation of fado male singers. "The greatest fadista since Amalia Rodrigues and Maria da Fe," is how British biographer David Bret, describes him....
Carlos Do Carmo
Carlos do Carmo
Carlos do Carmo, ComIH is a Portuguese fado singer, one of the finest in the "Lisbon Song"...
Carlos Paredes
Carlos Paredes
Carlos Paredes, ComSE, was a virtuoso Portuguese guitar player, born in Coimbra, son of the equally famous Artur Paredes. He is credited with popularising the medium internationally during the 20th century, being frequently considered to be the most talented Portuguese musician in the 20th century...
Clã
Clã
Clã is a Portuguese pop-rock band of a mixed nature in terms of style, ranging from moments of pure balladry, through jazzy details, to enthusiastic pop songs. They are currently regarded as one of the best Portuguese bands...
Cool Hipnoise
Cool Hipnoise
Cool Hipnoise is a Portuguese musical group. The band was formed in Lisbon in 1994 by Tiago Santos , João Gomes , Paulo Muiños , Nuno Reis , Francisco Rebelo and Melo D . Initially an acid jazz band, over the years its sound incorporated other influences like reggae and dub music...
Da Weasel
Da Weasel
Da Weasel was a Portuguese hip-hop band from Almada, fronted by MCs Pacman and Virgul. They were one of the oldest hip-hop projects in Portugal, having been created in 1993 and terminated in 2010, and notorious for being a full session band, instead of relying on a DJ and samples...
David Fonseca
David fonseca
David Fonseca is a Portuguese musician, singer-songwriter, and plays several instruments, including acoustic guitar and organ. He is mainly recognised because of his successful music career, as member of Silence 4 and as a solo singer...
Essa Entente
Fausto
Gaiteiros de Lisboa
The Gift
The Gift (band)
The Gift is a Portuguese alternative pop/rock band, formed in 1994. They have released five albums to date. In 2005 they won the MTV Europe award for best Portuguese act.-Biography:...
GNR
GNR (band)
GNR is a Portuguese band founded in 1981. This band shares its acronym with the Guarda Nacional Republicana and is inseparable from the concept of Portuguese rock. Many years after its creation, numerous recordings show the band's popularity...
Grupo de Acção Cultural
Hands On Approach
Hands On Approach
Hands on Approach are a Portuguese Pop rock band based on Setúbal, Portugal. Band members are: João Luís , Rui David and Sérgio Mendes .- Career :...
Heróis do Mar

I-Q

Irmãos Catita
Jafumega
Jorge Palma
Jorge Palma
Jorge Manuel d’Abreu Palma, known as Jorge Palma , is a Portuguese singer and songwriter.-Early life and career:At just the age of six, Palma learnt to play the piano and to read...
José Afonso
José Mário Branco
Linha Geral
Lucrécia Divina
Madredeus
Madredeus
Madredeus is a Portuguese band. Their music combines traditional Portuguese music with influences of modern folk music...
Mafalda Arnauth
Mafalda Arnauth
Mafalda Arnauth is a fado singer. She was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in October 1974 and started her career in 1995 when invited by João Braga to participate in a concert at S. Luis's Theater....
Mafalda Veiga
Mafalda Veiga
Mafalda Veiga is a Portuguese singer-songwriter born in Lisbon.-Discography:* Pássaros do sul * Planície * Cantar * Nada se repete * A cor da fogueira...
Mão Morta
Mão Morta
Mão Morta is a Portuguese avant-garde rock band that started its activities in 1985 in Braga. The group's name means "dead hand", based on a traditional Portuguese nursery rhyme. They are generally considered to be one of the most important bands in the Portuguese rock scene...
Mariza
Mariza
Mariza is the stage name of a popular fado singer. She was born Marisa dos Reis Nunes on 16 December 1973 in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique. At the time, Mozambique was known as the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique....
Mediterrânic Ensemble
Mediterrânic Ensemble
José Carlos Severino and Mário Bacelar are join in the Spring of 2004 and with them the Mediterrânic Ensemble, original World/Folk Fusion Music is born....
Megafone
Mler Ife Dada
Moonspell
Moonspell
Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band from Brandoa, Lisbon. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before the release of their first album Wolfheart...
Norberto Lobo
Ocaso Épico
Ocaso Épico
Farinha Masterwas a Portuguese experimental musician and performer. Most notably was the mentor of Ocaso Épico in 1981, a project that incorporated synth-pop, electronica, industrial music, minimalism and Portuguese folk music in a hallucinated, sarcastic style. Their lyrics are often absurd...
Ornatos Violeta
Ornatos Violeta
Ornatos Violeta were a Portuguese alternative rock group whose music included some other influences, such as funk, jazz and ska. The band was formed in the city of Porto....
Paco Bandeira
Paco Bandeira
Paco Bandeira is a singer from Portugal recognised as an international star.-References:...
Paulo Gonzo
Paulo Gonzo
Paulo Gonzo, born Alberto Ferreira, Paulo , is a Portuguese singer and songwriter. He has made various albums throughout his career, including the album "Jardins Proibidos". Many of his musical compositions have been used as theme songs for Portuguese telenovelas...
Pedro Abrunhosa
Pedro Abrunhosa
thumb|250px|Pedro AbrunhosaPedro Abrunhosa is a Portuguese singer, musician and songwriter. Aside from his music, he is known for always wearing sunglasses in public. Abrunhosa also played himself in the 1999 film La Lettre. He is an active spokesman for the Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa...
Pop dell'Art
Primitive Reason
Primitive Reason
Primitive Reason are an alternative cross-over rock band based in Portugal, with Guillermo de Llera , James Beja , Abel Beja , Ricardo Barriga and Pepe de Souza...

R-Z

Radar Kadaffi
Rádio Macau
RAMP
Ramp (band)
Ramp is a Portuguese heavy metal band. They began their career in 1989.Their heavy metal is more similar to that which is played in America, rather than its European counterpart. They are often called the "Portuguese Metallica"....
Rao Kyao
Rouxinol Faduncho
Rouxinol Faduncho
Rouxinol Faduncho is a Portuguese fictional character created by the singer and comedian Marco Horácio. He's a personification of the typical Portuguese man, similar to a Zé Povinho living in the 21st century...
Rui Veloso
Rui Veloso
Rui Manuel Gaudêncio Veloso, commonly known as Rui Veloso, CavIH , is a Portuguese rock singer and musician. Regarded as the "father of Portuguese rock", this composer and interpreter had a great impact on the Portuguese music scene with the record Ar de Rock .Songs such as Chico Fininho and A...
Sérgio Godinho
Sérgio Godinho
Sérgio Godinho, OL is a Portuguese poet, composer, and singer. He was born on August 31, 1945 in Porto, Portugal, and is one of the most influential popular musicians in Portugal...
Sétima Legião
Sétima Legião
Sétima Legião were a Portuguese rock band active from 1982 when it was formed by friends Pedro Oliveira, Rodrigo Leão and Nuno Cruz until 2000...
Sitiados
Supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
Toranja
Toranja
Toranja is a Portuguese rock band with a flair for lyrics with a rebellious tone. Their first album "Esquissos" was greeted with some acclaim in Portugal. "Segundo" is the title of their second - and ironically named - album which established Toranja as one of the relevant names of the new...
Trovante
UHF
Vai de Roda
Vitorino
Vitorino
Vitorino Salomé is a Portuguese singer-songwriter. His music combines the traditional music of his native region of Alentejo and urban popular song.-Albums:Semear Salsa ao Reguinho co-produced with Fausto Bordalo Dias...
Xutos e Pontapés

Painting

Portuguese art was very restricted in the early years of nationality, during the reconquista

Reconquista

, to a few paintings in churches, convents and palaces.

It was after the 15th century, with national borders established and with the discoveries, that Portuguese art expanded. Some kings, like John I

John I of Portugal

John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...

already had royal painters. It is during this century that Gothic art was replaced by a more humanistic and Italian-like art.

During the reign of King Alfonso V, an important Portuguese artist Nuno Gonçalves

Nuno Gonçalves

Nuno Gonçalves was a 15th century Portuguese artist credited for the painting of the paineis de São Vicente de Fora . The panels depict the main elements of Portuguese society in the 15th century: clergy, nobility and common people....

shaped Portuguese art, leading it to gain local characteristics (Escola Nacional, National School). His influence on Portuguese art continued after his death. He was the royal painter for the famous Retábulo do Altar das Relíquias de São Vicente in the Cathedral of Lisbon (Sé de Lisboa). The painting caught fire and was replaced by a Baroque structure. Parts of his work still exist and can be found in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga National (Museum of Ancient Art).

During the Golden Age of Portugal, in the late 15th century and early 16th century, Portuguese artists were influenced by Flemish art, and were in turn influential on Flemish artists of the same period. During this period, Portuguese art became internationally well-known, mostly because of its very original and diverse characteristics, but little is known about the artists of this time due to the medieval culture that considered painters to be artisans. The anonymous artists in the Portuguese "escolas" produced art not only for metropolitan Portugal but also for its colonies, namely Malacca

Malacca

Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...

or Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

and even Africa, gratifying the desires of local aristrocatic clients and religious clients.

In the 19th century naturalist and realist painters like Columbano

Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro

Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro , who is usually referred to as Columbano, was a Portuguese Realist painter...

, Henrique Pousão

Henrique Pousão

Henrique César de Araújo Pousão was a Portuguese painter.- Life :Henrique Pousão was the son of a judge, from a wealthy family of Alentejo. His early talent manifested at the age of ten, when he copied a portrait of Rubens...

and Silva Porto

António Silva Porto

António de Carvalho da Silva Porto was a Portuguese naturalist painter.Born in Porto, he studied there under João António Correia and T. Furtado, then continued his studies in Paris and Rome....

revitalized painting against a decadent academic art.

In the early 20th century Portuguese art increased both in quality and quantity, mainly due to members of the Modernist movement like Amadeo de Souza Cardoso

Amadeo de Souza Cardoso

Amadeo de Souza Cardoso was a Portuguese artist, working in the style of the vanguard of his time. Although he lived a short life, his workmanship was legendary.- Life :He was born in Mancelos, a parish of Amarante...

and Almada Negreiros

Almada Negreiros

José Sobral de Almada Negreiros was a Portuguese artist. He was born in the then colony of São Tomé e Príncipe, the son of a Portuguese father, António Lobo de Almada Negreiros, and a Santomean mother, Elvira Freire Sobral...

. In the post-war years the abstractionist painter Vieira da Silva settled in Paris and gained widespread recognition, as did her contemporary Paula Rego

Paula Rego

Paula Rego is a painter born in Portugal although she is a naturalised British citizen.-Biography:Rego was born in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, the daughter of an electrical engineer who worked for the Marconi Company. Although this gave her a comfortable middle class home, the family was...

Theater

Portugal never developed a great Dramatic theatre tradition due primarily to the fact that the Portuguese were more passionate about lyric or humorous works than dramatic art. Gil Vicente

Gil Vicente

is often seen as the father of Portuguese theatre - he was the leading Portuguese playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

in the 16th century. During the 20th century, theatre found a way to reach out to the people, specially the middle class, through what in Portugal is known as "Revista" - a form of humorous and cartoonish theatre designed to expose and criticize social (and political) issues, but in a way that entertains and amuses the audience.

Gil Vicente (1435–1536) is considered the first great Portuguese playwright. Frequently called the father of Portuguese theatre, he portrays the society of the 16th century. Anticipating the seventeenth-century French writer Santeuil

Santeuil

Santeuil may refer to the following places in France:* Santeuil, Eure-et-Loir, a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department* Santeuil, Val-d'Oise, a commune in the Val-d'Oise department...

's well-known phrase "castigat ridendo mores", Gil Vicente became famous for his satirical plays such as the "Triologia das Barcas" ("Auto da Barca do Inferno" (1517), "Auto da Barca do Purgatório" (1518); "Auto da Barca da Glória" (1518)). In these plays, he creates some characters who are representative of their social group. This results in not only comical, but also strong critical situations. Gil Vicente also wrote other important plays such as "Auto da Índia" (1509), "Auto da Fama" (1510), and "Farsa de Inês Pereira" (1523).

Another relevant playwright of the 16th century is António Ferreira (1528–1569), who wrote "A Castro" (1587), a well-known tragedy about the forbidden love between D. Pedro I and D. Inês de Castro

Inês de Castro

Inês Peres de Castro was a Galician noblewoman born of a Portuguese mother...

. António Ferreira is considered the father of Renaissance culture in Portugal.

One of the most famous playwrights of the 18th century is António José da Silva (1705–1739), commonly known as "O Judeu" because of his Judaic origins. He wrote several plays such as "Os Encantos de Medeia" (1735), "As Variedades de Proteu" (1737) and "Precipício de Faetonte" (1738).

Almeida Garrett

Almeida Garrett

(1799–1854) was a turning point in Portuguese literature as far as the themes are concerned. His most outstanding play is "Frei Luís de Sousa" (1844), which became a classic of Portuguese theatre. Garrett also wrote "Um Auto de Gil Vicente" (1838), "Filipa de Vilhena" (1846) and "O Alfageme de Santarém" (1842). These three plays as well as "Frei Luís de Sousa" are somehow connected with Portuguese history. Furthermore, Garrett is also the founder of the "Conservatório Geral de Arte Dramática" as well as of the "Teatro Nacional D. Maria II".

As far as the 20th century is concerned, it's worth noticing Bernardo Santareno's (1920–1980) work. His most famous play is "O Judeu", based upon the life of António José da Silva, mentioned above. Santareno also wrote "A Promessa" (1957), "O Crime da Aldeia Velha" (1959) and "Anunciação" (1962). Most of his plays deal with universal questions such as liberty, oppression and discrimination.

Born in 1926, Luís de Sttau Monteiro (1926–1993) wrote several plays, some of them portraying and criticising Portuguese society of his time. His most famous play is "Felizmente Há Luar" (1961), which is a strong criticism of the political context of that time (dictatorship – Estado Novo). "O Barão" (1965), "A Guerra Santa" (1967) and "Sua Excelência" (1971) were also written by Sttau Monteiro.

In the 20th century theatre in Portugal became more popular with the "Revista" – a comical and satirical form of theatre. It is a creative way of expressing one's ideas as well as criticising political and social problems. The most important actors who performed this form of theatre in the 20th century were Vasco Santana (1898–1958), Beatriz Costa (1907–1996) and Ivone Silva (1935–1987). Nowadays it is worth mentioning Maria João Abreu, José Raposo and Fernando Mendes, who perform this form of theatre at the well known "Parque Mayer" (a theatre in Lisbon where the "Revista" used to be performed).

Important Portuguese actors are Ruy de Carvalho, Eunice Muñoz

Eunice Muñoz

Eunice Muñoz, OSE, GCIH is a Portuguese actress. She was born in Amareleja, Portugal.-External links:...

, Rui Mendes, Irene Cruz, Luís Miguel Cintra, just to name a few.

In later years, theatre in Portugal has developed into many other forms as in any other European country. Almost every repertoire can be seen in Portugal. Many companies have the works of Shakespeare, Molière, Brecht, Becket or Chekhov, and Portuguese classic and modern authors on their repertoire. Other companies show more experimental projects. All this makes the theatre repertoire very varied. Some of the most important professional theatre companies nowadays are: Teatro da Cornucópia

Teatro da Cornucópia

Teatro da Cornucópia is one of the most prestigious theatre companies in Portugal. It was founded in 1973 by Jorge Silva Melo and Luís Miguel Cintra with the staging of the play The Misanthrope by Molière...

, Teatro da Comuna, Teatro Aberto

Teatro Aberto

Teatro Aberto is a theatre located in Lisbon, Portugal next to the Praça Espanha.Together with the Portuguese Society of Authors , it organizes the annual Grande Prémio de Teatro Português.-Directorate:...

, Teatro Meridional, Teatro da Garagem, Companhia de Teatro de Almada, Companhia Teatral do Chiado, A Barraca, Teatro dos Aloés, Teatro Praga, Artistas Unidos, Seiva Trupe, As boas raparigas, ACTA, among many others.

Portugal hosts several festivals such as FITEI, ACERT and FIAR, and one of the most important is Festival Internacional de Teatro de Almada (International Theatre Festival of Almada), organized for 25 years by Companhia de Teatro de Almada (Almada Theatre Company), with directors Joaquim Benite and Vitor Gonçalves

Vitor Gonçalves

-Biography:Vitor Gonçalves, born in 1963 in Almada has a degree in history from the Universidade Autónoma – Luís de Camões, Lisbon, 1987.In 1981 he joined an acting course in the actors' school Grupo de Campolide .-Work experience:...

Festivities and holidays

During the summer, in the month of June, festivities dedicated to three saints known as Santos Populares take place all over Portugal. Why the populace associated the saints to these pagan festivities is not known. But they are possibly related to Roman or local deities from the time before Christianity spread in the region. The three saints are Saint Anthony

Anthony of Padua

Anthony of Padua or Anthony of Lisbon, O.F.M., was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. Though he died in Padua, Italy, he was born to a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal, which is where he was raised...

, Saint John

John the Apostle

John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...

and Saint Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

. Common fare in these festivities are wine, água-pé (mostly grape juice), and traditional bread along with sardines. During the festivities are many weddings, traditional street dances and fireworks.

Saint Anthony is celebrated on the night of 12th-13 June, especially in Lisbon

Lisbon

(where that saint was born and lived most of his life), with Marchas Populares (a street carnival) and other festivities. In the meantime, several marriages known as Casamentos de Santo António (Marriages of Saint Anthony) are made. But the most popular saint is Saint John, he is celebrated in many cities and towns throughout the country on the night of the 23rd-24th, especially in Porto

Porto

and Braga

Braga

, where the sardines, caldo verde
Caldo verde
Caldo verde is a popular soup in Portuguese cuisine.The basic ingredients for caldo verde are potatoes, onions and kale . Common additional ingredients are garlic, salt, and olive oil. Some recipes add meat...

(traditional soup) and plastic hammers to hammer in another person's head for luck are indispensable. The final saint is Saint Peter, celebrated in the night of 28th-29th, especially in Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim is a Portuguese city in the Norte Region and sub-region of Greater Porto, with a 2011 estimated population of 63,364. According to the 2001 census, there were 63,470 inhabitants with 42,396 living in the city proper. The urban area expanded, southwards, to Vila do Conde, and there...

and Barcelos

Barcelos, Portugal

Barcelos is a city in Barcelos Municipality in Braga District. The city has a population of 20,625.-History:Originally a Roman settlement, it expanded and became the seat of the First Duke of Bragança in the 15th century...

, the festivities are similar to the others, but more dedicated to the sea and with an extensive use of fire (fogueiras). In Póvoa de Varzim, there is the Rusgas in the night, another sort of street carnival. Each festivity is a municipal holiday in the cities and towns where it occurs.

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

is also widely celebrated in Portugal, some traditional carnivals date back several centuries. Loulé

Loulé

Loulé is a city and a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 764.2 km² and a total population of 62,295 inhabitants. The city proper has a population of 12,103.The municipality is composed of 11 parishes, and is located in the District of Faro....

, Alcobaça, Mealhada

Mealhada

Mealhada Municipality is located in Aveiro District in Portugal. It has a total area of 110.7 km² and a total population of 21,282 inhabitants, and 17,043 electors . The city of Mealhada itself has a population of 5.000....

, Funchal

Funchal

Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...

, Torres Vedras

Torres Vedras

Torres Vedras is a city and a municipality in the district of Lisbon, Portugal, about 50 km north of Lisbon. It belongs to the Oeste subregion and the Centro region.The municipality covers an area of 405.89 km² distributed over 20 freguesias...

, Ovar

Ovar

Ovar Municipality is a municipality in Aveiro District, Baixo Vouga Subregion in Portugal. It has a total area of 147.4 km² and a total population of 56,296 inhabitants, and 42,582 electors . The city of Ovar itself has a population of 16,849....

and Figueira da Foz

Figueira da Foz

Figueira da Foz , also known as Figueira for short, is a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. It is located at the mouth of the Mondego River, 40 km west of Coimbra, and sheltered by hills ....

, among several other localities, hold several days of festivities, with parades where social and political criticism abound, along with music and dancing in an environment of euphorya. There are some localities which preserve a more traditional carnival with typical elements of the ancient carnival traditions of Portugal and Europe. However, several parades in most localities have adopted many elements of the tropical Brazilian Carnival

Brazilian Carnival

The Carnival of Brazil is an annual festival held forty-six days before Easter. On certain days of Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival," from carnelevare, "to remove meat." Carnival celebrations...

.

On January 6, Epiphany is celebrated by some families, especially in the North and Center, where the family gathers to eat "Bolo-Rei" (literally, King Cake, a cake made with crystallized fruits); this is also the time for the traditional street songs - "As Janeiras" (The January ones).

Saint Martin Day

Martin of Tours

Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...

, is celebrated on November 11. This day is the peak of three days, often with very good weather, it is known as Verão de São Martinho ("Saint Martin summer"), the Portuguese celebrate it with jeropiga (a sweet liqueur wine) and roasted Portuguese chestnut

Chestnut

Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...

s (castanhas assadas), and it is called Magusto.

National holidays

Date	Name	Remarks
January 1	Ano Novo	New Year's Day New Year's Day New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome... . Beginning of the year, marks the traditional end of "holiday season".
Tuesday, date varies Computus Computus is the calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar. The name has been used for this procedure since the early Middle Ages, as it was one of the most important computations of the age....	Carnaval	Carnival Carnival Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party... . (Also called Mardi Gras). Not an official holiday, but declared by the government as a non-working day. Very ancient festival celebrating the end of the winter. It gained Christian connotations, and now marks the first day of a period of 40 days before Easter Week (Semana Santa, Holy Week), thus also known as Entrudo.
Friday, date varies Computus Computus is the calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar. The name has been used for this procedure since the early Middle Ages, as it was one of the most important computations of the age....	Sexta-Feira Santa	Good Friday Good Friday Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of... .
Sunday, date varies Computus Computus is the calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar. The name has been used for this procedure since the early Middle Ages, as it was one of the most important computations of the age....	Páscoa	Easter Easter Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday... . Used for family gathering to eat Pão-de-Ló and "Folar" (an Easter cake) and Easter eggs. In the North, a sort of church members processions (compasso) visits and blesses every home with an open door, thus meaning they are Catholics. Traditionally, this is the second visit of children and non-married youngsters to their godparent Godparent A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother... s, receiving an Easter gift. The first visit is on Palm Sunday Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. .... , 7 days before, where children give flowers and palms to their godparents.
April 25	Dia da Liberdade	Literally, "Freedom Day". Celebrates the Carnation Revolution Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance... , marking the end of the dictatorial regime. Event of 1974.
May 1	Dia do Trabalhador	Labour Day Labour Day Labour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for... .
Thursday, date varies Computus Computus is the calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar. The name has been used for this procedure since the early Middle Ages, as it was one of the most important computations of the age....	Corpo de Deus	Corpus Christi Corpus Christi (feast) Corpus Christi is a Latin Rite solemnity, now designated the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ . It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches. Like Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of Christ the King, it does not commemorate a particular event in... . Christian feast celebrating the Eucharist.
June 10	Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas	Portugal Day Portugal Day Portugal Day, officially , is Portugal's National Day celebrated annually on June 10. Although officially observed only in Portugal, Portuguese citizens and emigrants throughout the world celebrate this holiday... . Marks the date of Camões Luís de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas... death. Camões wrote The Lusiads, Portugal's national epic. Event of 1580. Celebrated in many of Portuguese communities in the United States of America, such as the Ironbound in Newark, New Jersey
August 15	Assunção	Assumption of Mary Assumption of Mary According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life... .
October 5	Implantação da República	Implantation of the Republic, or Republic Day Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics.-1 January in the Republic of Slovakia:This was the day of creation of the Republic of Slovakia. A national holiday since 1993... . Event of 1910.
November 1	Todos os Santos	All Saints Day. Day used for visiting deceased relatives.
December 1	Restauração da Independência	Restoration of Independence. Event of 1640.
December 8	Imaculada Conceição	Immaculate Conception. Patron Saint of Portugal since 1646.
December 25	Natal	Christmas Day. Celebrated in the 24th to the 25th as a family gathering to eat codfish with potatoes and cabbage Cabbage Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable... , roasted kid and turkey; seasonal sweets and dry fruits; drink Port wine Port wine Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties... ; and share gifts.

Portuguese popular song: (English Translation)

"Santo António já se acabou. (Saint Anthony is over)
O São Pedro está-se a acabar. (Saint Peter is ending)
São João, São João, São João, (Saint John, Saint John, Saint John)
Dá cá um balão para eu brincar." (Give me a balloon, for me to play)

Sports and games

Football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

is the most popular and practiced sport in Portugal. Football started to become well known in Portugal in the final decades of the 19th century, brought by Portuguese students who returned from England.

The first person responsible for its implementation would have been Guilherme Pinto Basto (according to some people, his brothers Eduardo and Frederico would have brought the first ball from England). It was he who had the initiative to organise an exhibition of the new game, which took place in October 1888, and it was also him who organized the first football match in January of the following year. The match, played where today the Campo Pequeno bullring is located, involved opposing teams from Portugal and England. The Portuguese won the game 2-1. Consequently, football started attracting the attention of the high society, being distinguished by the Luso-British rivalry.

Later, the game spread, being practised in colleges and leading to the foundation of clubs all over the country. Until the end of the century, associations such as Clube Lisbonense, Carcavelos, Braço de Prata, the Real Ginásio Clube Português, the Estrela Futebol Clube, the Futebol Académico, the Campo de Ourique, the Oporto Cricket, and the Sport Clube Vianense were founded to practise this sport or created sections for competing. The first match, between Lisbon and Porto, took place in 1894, attended by King D. Carlos. The Clube Internacional de Futebol (founded in 1902) was the first Portuguese team to play abroad defeating, in 1907, the Madrid Futebol Clube in the Spanish capital.

Currently, of the most important teams of the sport in Portugal, the oldest is the Boavista Futebol Clube, which was founded in 1903. The Futebol Clube do Porto, after an unsuccessful attempt in 1893, appeared in 1906, stimulated by José Monteiro da Costa, among others. The Sporting Clube de Portugal was founded in 1906 by the Viscount of Alvalade and his grandson José de Alvalade. Sport Lisboa e Benfica, was born in 1904 (the club maintained the foundation date of Sport Lisboa, founded in 1904, when in 1908 assimilated the Grupo Sport Benfica, founded in 1906). They are all clubs that traditionally have several sports activities but they give great distinction to football, making use of teams of professional players, which frequently participate in European competitions.

In May 2006, the Portuguese national team

Portugal national football team

The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in association football and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home ground is Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and their head coach is Paulo Bento...

was ranked 7th

FIFA World Rankings

The FIFA World Rankings is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, currently led by Spain. The teams of the member nations of FIFA , football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest...

out of 205 countries by FIFA

FIFA

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...

. The legendary Eusébio

Eusébio

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, GCIH, GCM , commonly known simply as Eusébio, is a retired Mozambican-born Portuguese football forward. He is considered one of the best footballers of all-time by the IFFHS, experts and fans...

is still a symbol of Portuguese football. Luís Figo

Luís Figo

Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, OIH, is a Portuguese former international footballer. He played as a midfielder for Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Internazionale, during a career which spanned over a period of 20 years. He retired from football on 31 May 2009...

was voted 2001 Player of the Year by FIFA, after finishing 2nd in 2000. Rui Costa and Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH, , commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger or striker for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and is the captain of the Portuguese national team...

are also noteworthy and Vítor Baía

Vítor Baía

Vítor Manuel Martins Baía, OIH , is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a goalkeeper.His career was intimately connected with F.C...

is the player in history with most titles won, including all European club cups. Moreover, José Mourinho

José Mourinho

José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho is a Portuguese football manager and the current manager of Real Madrid. He is commonly known as "The Special One".Mourinho is regarded by some players, coaches and critics as the best ever coach in football....

is regarded as one of the most successful and well-paid football managers in football's history. The main domestic football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

competition is the Superliga

Portuguese Liga

The Primeira Liga , formerly called Primeira Divisão, currently named Liga ZON Sagres after their main sponsors, is the top professional association football division of the Portuguese football league system...

where the dominating teams are S.L. Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting CP. Portugal hosted and nearly won EURO 2004, getting defeated in the final by surprise winner Greece

Greece national football team

The Greece national football team represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece's home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus and their head coach is Fernando Santos...

. The Portuguese national team also reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup twice, in 1966, when Eusebio was the top scorer, with 9 goals, and also in 2006. The year 2006 was the year that Portugal nearly won the FIFA

FIFA

World Cup

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

tournament, ranking 4th overall after being defeated by France and Germany's football teams. This was the first time since 1966 that the Portuguese football team had advanced to a such a high qualifying round in a World Cup tournament. The team was welcomed back proudly from its country.

Other than football, many other professional and well organized sport competitions take place every season in Portugal, including basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

, athletics

Athletics (track and field)

Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, gymnastics

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, futsal

Futsal

Futsal is a variant of association football that is played on a smaller pitch and mainly played indoors. Its name is a portmanteau of the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol de salón , which can be translated as "hall football" or "indoor football"...

, team handball

Team handball

Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...

and volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

among the hundreds of sports played in this country.

Cycling

Cycling

Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

, with Volta a Portugal

Volta a Portugal

The Volta a Portugal em bicicleta is a long distance road bicycle race for professionals held in Portugal. The competition takes place annually during a two-week span.- History :...

being the most important race, is also popular.

In rink hockey Portugal is the country with most world titles: 15 World Championships

Rink Hockey World Championship

The FIRS Roller Hockey World Cup is a roller hockey competition also referred as the World Championship – A between the best male national teams in the World. It happens every two years and it is organized by FIRS....

and 20 European Championships

Rink Hockey European Championship

The CERH European Roller Hockey Championship is a roller hockey competition with the national teams of European countries that happens every two years...

, and in rugby sevens

Rugby sevens

Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...

the Portuguese team has won many international trophies, having as of July 2006 five European Championship titles.

Golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

is also worth mentioning, since its greatest players play in the sunny region of the Algarve during the "Algarve Open".

The Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva

Autódromo do Estoril

The Autódromo do Estoril is a race course in Portugal, owned by state-run holding management company Parpública. Its length is . It was the home of the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix from 1984 to 1996....

in the Estoril

Estoril

Estoril is a seaside resort and civil parish of the Portuguese municipality of Cascais, Lisboa District. The Estoril coast is close to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It starts in Carcavelos, 15 kilometres from Lisbon, and stretches as far as Guincho, often known as Costa de Estoril-Sintra or...

, near Lisbon, is the main Portuguese race track where many motorsport competitions are held, including the World Motorcycling Championship and A1 Grand Prix

A1 Grand Prix

A1 Grand Prix was a 'single make' open-wheel auto racing series. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most formula racing series. As such, it was often promoted as the "World Cup of Motorsport"...

.

Rallying

Rallying

Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...

(with the Rally of Portugal and Rally Madeira) and off-road (with the Baja Portugal 1000 and recently Lisboa-Dakar

Dakar Rally

The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race, organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation...

) events also have international recognition.

Triathlon

Triathlon

A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...

is also giving important steps thanks to the world cup leader Vanessa Fernandes

Vanessa Fernandes

Vanessa de Sousa Fernandes is a Portuguese athlete from Perosinho, Vila Nova de Gaia and a former triathlon European and World champion...

and her European and world titles. She is also the duathlon

Duathlon

Duathlon is an athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format bearing some resemblance to triathlons. The International Triathlon Union governs the sport internationally....

European and world champion.

The national team of shotgun shooting sports

Shooting sports

A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...

won the gold medal in the teams event and Paulo Cleto won silver in the single men's competition.

The martial arts

Martial arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

like judo

Judo

is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

have also brought many medals to this country, namely Telma Monteiro

Telma Monteiro

Telma Monteiro is a Portuguese judoka from the city of Almada. She is currently in the number two spot on the world ranking list. She is also a multi-time medal winner in both World and European Championships and Cups. She won silver medals in the last European and World Championships.Since July...

who conquered gold twice at the European Championships in the -52 kg category, bronze in 2005 world championship in Cairo and achieved silver in 2007 World Judo Championships

2007 World Judo Championships

The 2007 World Judo Championships are the 25th edition of the Judo World Championships, and were held at the Rio Olympic Arena, usually called Arena Multiuso, that was built for the 2007 Pan-American Games, in Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from September 13 to September 16, 2007.The...

. Nuno Delgado

Nuno Delgado

Nuno Miguel Delgado is a former Portuguese judoka who became known for winning Portugal's first Olympic medal in judo – a bronze in the under-81 kg category at the 2000 Summer Olympics, in Sydney, Australia. He was also senior European champion .-External links:* * on TheJudoPodcast.eu...

, who conquered the bronze medal in the 2000 Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

in Sydney, also became the European champion in 1999 (in Bratislava) and vice-champion in the year of 2003.

Manuel Centeno

Manuel Centeno

Manuel Centeno is a former bodyboarding European and World Champion, having won the ISA World Surfing Games 2006 on the 22nd October, at Huntington Beach, California, United States.-Profile:...

is also a major name in the Portuguese sports as he conquered the national, European and the world titles, in 2006 in bodyboarding

Bodyboarding

Bodyboarding is a surface water sport . The average board consists of a small, rectangular piece of hydrodynamic foam, sometimes containing a ridged spine called a 'stringer'...

after being the European champion back in 2001.

In surfing

Surfing

Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...

, Justin Mujica, European surfing champion in 2004, is now back in the competitions after recovering from a knee injury. Tiago Pires

Tiago Pires

Tiago Filipe dos Santos Pires is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Atlético Reguengos.-Biography:Tiago Pires was signed by Genoa in mid-2006, along with Diogo Tavares. In 2007–08 season, he was loaned to Lugano along with Alessandro Di Maio, Diogo Tavares and Rivaldo González...

reached the number one position at ASP WQS

Association of Surfing Professionals

The Association of Surfing Professionals is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world’s best talent in a variety of progressive formats.- Predecessors to the ASP :...

rating and will probably be part of the main surfing competition. Ruben Gonzalez is an international acclaimed surfer and the only one to achieve the national title in two consecutive tournaments.

The Portuguese team of basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

made a unique qualification to the European Championships and made through the second round where it was eliminated.

"Os Lobos" - national rugby team - made a dramatic qualification to the 2007 world championships, becoming the world's only all-amateur team ever to qualify for that kind of event.

In fencing

Fencing

Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

, Joaquim Videira

Joaquim Videira

Joaquim Filipe Ferreira dos Santos Videira is a Portuguese fencer. He was the épée world vice champion in 2006.-Biography:Joaquim Videira started fencing under the direction of his coach, the Hélder Alves....

won the silver medal at the épée 2006 World Fencing Championships

2006 World Fencing Championships

The 2006 World Fencing Championships were held at the Oval Lingotto in Turin, Italy. The event took place from September 29 to October 7, 2006.-Medal table:-Men's events:-Women's events:-References:*...

and has conquered numerous medals in the world cup.

The major Portuguese professional sports leagues, championships and events include:

Portuguese Football Championship and Cup of Portugal in football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
Portuguese Futsal First Division
Portuguese Futsal First Division
Portuguese Futsal First Division or "1ª Divisão de Futsal" is the premier professional futsal league in Portugal.-Teams 2008/2009:* CF Belenenses* FJ Antunes* SL Benfica* AR Freixieiro* AD Fundão* Instituto D...

in futsal
Futsal
Futsal is a variant of association football that is played on a smaller pitch and mainly played indoors. Its name is a portmanteau of the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol de salón , which can be translated as "hall football" or "indoor football"...
Portuguese Basketball League in basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
Portuguese Rink Hockey Championship
Portuguese Rink Hockey Championship
-Teams for 2009/2010 Season:* Óquei Clube de Barcelos* SL Benfica* HC Braga* Candelária SC* AE Física* ACR Gulpilhares* UD Oliveirense* Académico de Espinho* CD Paço d'Arcos* FC Porto* CD Portosantense* AD Oeiras* AD Valongo...

in rink hockey
Portuguese Handball League in handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
Campeonato Nacional Honra/Super Bock
Campeonato Nacional Honra/Super Bock
The Portuguese top division of rugby union is a competition organised by the Portuguese Rugby Federation. The current champions are Direito, from Lisbon. The league consists of 8 teams.-Teams 2008/09:-External links:*...

in rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
Portuguese Volleyball League A1
Portuguese Volleyball League A1
The Portuguese Volleyball League A1 is the top men's volleyball league in Portugal. The competition, which is organised by the Portuguese Volleyball Federation, was called Honor Division in 1983-84 and 1986-88...

in volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
Portuguese Beach Soccer League
Portuguese Beach Soccer League
The Portuguese Beach Soccer League is a summer team sport event in Portugal. This is the result of an effort by the Portuguese District Football Associations of Algarve, Castelo Branco, Leiria, Lisboa, Porto and Setúbal, in cooperation with several local and national entities.The competition occurs...

in beach soccer
Beach soccer
Beach soccer, also known as beach football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. The game emphasises skill, agility and shooting at goal....
Volta a Portugal
Volta a Portugal
The Volta a Portugal em bicicleta is a long distance road bicycle race for professionals held in Portugal. The competition takes place annually during a two-week span.- History :...

in cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
Rally of Portugal in motor racing

The country has an ancient martial art known as "Jogo do Pau

Jogo do Pau

Jogo do Pau is a Portuguese martial art which developed in the northern regions of Portugal , focusing on the use of a staff of fixed measures and characteristics. The origins of this martial art are uncertain, but its purpose was primarily self-defence...

" (Portuguese Stick Fencing), used for self-protection and for duels between young men in disputes over young women. Having its origin in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, Jogo do Pau uses wooden staves as a combat weapon.

Other sports are the "Jogos Populares", a wide variety of traditional sports played for fun.

In addition to this, other popular sport-related recreational outdoor activities with thousands of enthusiasts nationwide include airsoft

Airsoft

Airsoft is a sport in which participants shoot round non-metallic pellets launched via replica firearms.Gameplay varies in style and composition but often range from short-term skirmishes, organized scenarios, military simulations, historical reenactments, to competition target shooting events...

, fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

and orienteering

Orienteering

Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...

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See also