March 5 2025 was the 900th birthday of the town of
The drum bands solved the riddle of the drumming we heard a week or so ago from our house: it was Ponte de Lima birthday party practice! The rhythms and sounds we heard at the celebration party were exactly the same as we heard from home some time ago.
The video here of the drum bands below is pretty good, but the audio is overloaded. In person the effect was awesome, thunderous, incredible. Our chests were vibrating, the sound was like the orc war drums in Lord of the Rings, it was very emotional and thrilling. Car alarms all up and down the street were going off, but it was hardly audible over the thunder. Along with the drums were accordions and Celtic pipes too.
The drum bands marched through the old town of Ponte de Lima, then across the medieval bridge, and came back a few minutes later.
After the drums in the late morning we bumped into some friends from our Friday expat get-together. It was great to see some familiar faces and share experiences of the day. We chatted with Christoph from Switzerland and then had lunch and a great conversation with Maayan and Dan from Israel.
About 3 PM the parade of folk groups from several villages around Ponte de Lima began. The authentic costumes were wonderful, and the music and rhythm of the castanet-like hand clappers was amazing and unique. Listen for their chatter in the video below. Many little children participated, absorbing their culture and history from an early age. They were darling in their little folk outfits! We watched some folk dancing too. Everyone sang along and knew the music and dances by heart, even the little ones. We felt very much like outsiders, but accepted, and we felt honored to be intimate spectators.
Drum bands
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Folk culture |
(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done. Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)