Dear Readers, You know how they say, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know?’ I like to tag it with, ‘Until you know, you know?’ Well, y’all, I didn’t know about Sāo Gonçalinho, and now that I do, I can’t stop thinking about it.
What a ridiculously wonderful celebration! It takes place over five days in Aveiro, Portugal, celebrating Saint Gonçalvo who represents healing and devotion, matchmaking and marital harmony. Outside of New Orleans, I personally have never experienced days and days of thousands of people partying until sunrise, and now that I know, I can’t wait for next year!
One of the traditions includes throwing cavacas from the top of the church, and people catch them while holding their umbrellas turned upside down. They rain down and hit the streets, and it felt so very Mardi Gras to me that I questioned whether I should lift my shirt to receive this rock-hard pastry. The church bell rings loudly as the signal that more cavacas are being thrown, and the locals were tickled that I began to refer to it as “the biscuit bell.” The only time I’ve ever seen folks so excited about biscuits was when I volunteered excessive hours baking them at Sights & Sounds as a part of the Main Street Board.
