Unfortunately “getting hammered” doesn’t quite translate in Portuguese.
It was my first Festival of Sao João , a few days after thesummer solstice , undoubtedly the most vital nighttime of the twelvemonth inPorto . My Quaker and I , having just watched pyrotechnic on my balcony , descended into a street that ’s normally empty apart from a fewstray Arabian tea . But that even the aviation buzz with upheaval and stark riot . In front of the colorful Lusitanian tiled buildings , local families grill sardines , sent lanterns off into the nighttime , and generally danced like no one was keep an eye on . In almost everyone ’s hand : a giant hammer .
I never picture myself whacking any stranger on the mind with a hammering — and for certain not a child or a senior citizen . But as an American sustenance in Porto , I can demonstrate that ’s precisely what happens during the city ’s famous annual festival . Although Sao João is ostensibly meant to mark the nascence of the youngest Apostelic Father , it ’s also a boozy reverie involving pyrotechnic reflect over the Douro River and its larger - than - life bridges , a night sky full of lanterns , and polka - like music echoing through the cobbled city street . And when I bonked a little girl and her grandmother on the nous with a man of empty plastic , they smiled and express joy .
So did I when they returned the favour .
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It was the Celtics who first fete the summer solstice . And while the exact origins of Sao João remain a mystery story , it first recruit the historical record in the 14th C when the chief chronicler of Portugal ’s kingdom traveled to Porto ahead of an upcoming visit for the queen . He happened to get in on the solar day of Sao João , which happen each year on the Sunday following the solstice .
The word on the street is that , back then , men would tally people on the heads with leeks , leaving behind a waft garlic smell , and cleaning lady would scratch lemon balm in citizenry ’s brass . This was done to get care from the diametric sex . The idea was that both plants symbolized fertility ( though according to some , the lemon balm represented pubic hair , too . ) That practice evolve in the seventies , afterManuel António Boaventura , a toymaker from the Estrela do Paraíso plastics factory , was inspired to make a toy free-base on an unusual set of salt and pepper shakers he see during his travelling . He eventually settled on a toy hammer , the shakers serve as the modelling for the hammer ’s head . So , he made giant plastic manikin of these shakers and added a proportionately large handle that doubled as a whistle . The accidentally phallic noisemakers became such a hitting with kids and teenagers at smaller celebrations in Porto that they quickly broke onto the Sao João scenery , gradually eclipse the stinker balm and leeks . While the original theme of the festival has become less explicit , some parts of the urban center still sell sugared bread and bar in the shape of a phallus .
Several hours after we ’d ventured into the street , we arrive at a small engine block party complete with its own DJ , Super Bock ( Porto ’s local lager ) , and some of the phallic patty . It was the early dayspring hour and the peak of Sao João madness . Miguel Moura , a dry - humored 33 year older who was born and leaven in Porto , started a terpsichore train that eventually the integral block party finish up unite . He told me later that in Portugal there is a saying : “ You do n’t hit a fair sex , not even with a flower . ” But , with a flower or hammering on Sao João , he aver with a chuckle , it ’s sightly biz .
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Meanwhile , Joana Ranito wielded her hammer as she bounced across the square that doubled as the dance story . While Moura spotlight the transgressing of tabu , the 30 - year - old type interior designer say that her favorite aspect of Sao João is that it brings together every face of the biotic community . “ It ’s a day when traditional barriers are broken down , ” as she put it . “ You see one-time people trip the light fantastic toe with new people and teenagers . ” Although it ’s an all - long time affair , she thinks a big part of the fun is attributable to the tradition of the mallet and leek . After all , who would n’t be impel out of their shell by the panorama of whacking someone on the header with something imply to symbolize sex activity .
By the clock time my friends and I had wandered down a street overlooking the river , I ’d probably hammer more than a hundred unknown on the head . partake in this eclectic ritual had indeed made me find like part of the local community . It was just as Ranito had explained to me days before the festival : “ You ’re pass away to break out of your cuticle and interact with people . You ’re gon na smash someone on the read/write head and laugh about it , and it ’s skillful to do that . ”
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