40,000 re-live Mediaeval Days
‘Days and nights of mystery and magic, in a journey to the Middle Ages’. This is what the visitor found during the 9th enactment of the Mediaeval Days of Castro Marim, "one of the major cultural happenings South of the Tejo", which ended on Sunday.
For a few days every year, the town forgets electricity, cars, technology and mobile phones and Castro Marim becomes a page torn from a history book. Around 40,000 were estimated to attend by the organisers, the Municipal Council of Castro Marim and the Portuguese Institute of Architectural Heritage.
The Mediaeval Days began with the opening of the Mediaeval Fair and a historical parade through the streets of the town, which involved hundreds of figures representing the different social classes of society: clergy, nobility, bourgeoisie and folk.
But it is in the castle, where its own coin - the real - is in circulation and in which other times are remembered: dozens of artisans recreate live the handicrafts of the age, such as bread-making, pharmaceuticals, herbalism, shearing, barbers, iron-smiths, straw-making and weaving, amongst many others. There is also a space reserved for commercialisation of products.
As in the XIII and XIV centuries, with no shortage of salt, fresh and dried fish, octopus, bread and dried fruits are on offer yearly.
In the streets, jugglers, acrobats and jesters, fire-eaters, snake charmers, story tellers and contortionists spread the magic of the age. The mediaeval past of the town takes life and form within the ancestral walls of the castle, with trials of falconry, archery, marionette shows, fire-dancing and harp and lute players.
The exhibition of instruments of torture and punishment can give visitors shivers with the methods used back then.
This year, saw a new feature, extending to the Fort of São Sebastião - which served as a hall for shows.
The Praça 1º de Maio (1st of May Square) also welcomed diverse initiatives. "Only with great work and enthusiasm from the population and from the volunteers is it possible to live these four days in the mediaeval age, recreating it as authentically as possible", said José Estevens, President of the Municipal Council of Castro Marim. Although there exist other initiatives of the same type throughout the country, according to the local authority, "what makes the ‘Mediaeval Days’ distinctive and more attractive is the authenticity which we seek to lend to the event". The budget for the initiative is approximately 400,000 euros.
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