Lendas Portuguesas by Helena Lobo

Barcelos

helenacampinholobo1 — 2025-05-28 15:54:21 UTC

One day, a Galician turned up and became a suspect. The authorities decided to arrest him and despite his oaths of innocence, nobody believed that the Galician was on his way to Santiago de Compostela in fulfilment of a promise and that he was a fervent devotee of St James, St Paul and Our Lady. For this reason, he was sentenced to hang. Before he was hanged, he asked to be brought before the judge who had sentenced him. When he was authorised, he was taken to the magistrate's residence, where he was feasting with some friends. The Galician once again affirmed his innocence and, in the face of the incredulity of those present, pointed to a roast cockerel on the table, exclaiming: ‘It's as certain that I'm innocent as it is that this cockerel will crow when they hang me’. Laughter and comments were not to be expected, but just in case, no one touched the rooster.

What seemed impossible, however, became reality! When the pilgrim was being hanged, the roast cockerel stood up on the table and crowed. No one doubted the condemned man's claims of innocence. The judge rushed to the gallows and saw, with astonishment, the poor man with the rope around his neck. However, the loose knot prevented strangulation. He was immediately released and sent in peace. A few years later, he returned to Barcelos and erected a monument in honour of Saint James and the Virgin.

Coimbra

susanaantunes6A — 2025-05-28 16:17:05 UTC

Pedro and Inês
The tragic and legendary love story between Pedro and Inês de Castro left an indelible mark on Portugal's history and heritage, inspiring poets, writers and composers. Camões was one of the first to celebrate the legend in “Os Lusíadas”. The couple rest in the Monastery of Alcobaça, in magnificently carved tombs that are considered masterpieces of Portuguese Gothic sculpture.

D. Pedro I, son of King Afonso IV and Queen Beatriz of Castile, was King of Portugal from 1357 until his death in 1367.

Inês de Castro was a Galician noblewoman, the daughter of the marriage between Pedro Fernandes de Castro, a Galician nobleman, and Aldonça Lourenço de Valadares, a Portuguese noblewoman.

Inês arrived in Portugal in 1340 as the maid of Constança Manuel, newly married to Pedro, heir to the Portuguese throne. Pedro and Inês fell in love almost immediately, beginning a clandestine love affair that turned out to be tragic. King Afonso IV, Pedro's father, feared that Inês' influence over the Prince would jeopardise Portugal's relations with the Kingdom of Castile and, in 1344, expelled Inês from court and sent her into exile.

The following year, after Constança's death and against her father's wishes, Pedro ordered Inês to return. Refusing to marry any other noblewoman chosen by the King, Pedro decided to live with Inês, with whom he would have four children.

Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo

susanaantunes6A — 2025-05-28 16:19:47 UTC

Legend of the Enchanted Moorish Woman
In times long gone, the entire Figueirense region was under Muslim rule for almost five hundred years. Popular tradition, spread over the centuries through stories told at evening parties, gave rise to the incredible exploits of the “enchanted Moorish women”. It was said that when the Christian armies reconquered the area, they forced the Arab families to move south, leaving behind their homes, some of them palatial, and many treasures guarded by beautiful girls who had been bewitched to escape death.

According to the story, in Vale do Bispo, in Vilar de Amargo, there was a water tank where they said an enchanted Moorish woman of rare beauty lived. Whoever was lucky enough to break her spell would have her as a wife and would be left with her fortune. On the morning of St. John's Day, many people had gone to the place, with the intention of undoing the spell that bound the poor girl to such a cruel fate, but none of them could find a way to do it.

One St. John's Day morning, when the day was just beginning to break, the beautiful Moorish woman, after washing her clothes, hung them out to dry in the sun. A man from Freixeda do Torrão, who was passing by with his cattle, stopped by the spring to water the cows and, upon seeing the cloths spread out, picked them up and threw them into the water.

At that moment, an anguished voice was heard crying out:

– Oh, you cursed man who has broken my spell!

The man, surprised and fearful, saw a snake with a long black head running towards him. The enchanted Moorish woman, as this was her usual way of living by the spring that imprisoned her, was unable to catch the man who fled without looking back.

The snake, enraged, returned to the place and, heading towards the cows that were peacefully drinking water from the spring, gave them strong whips with its tail, removing all their skin.

Coimbra (Sé Nova)

susanaantunes6A — 2025-05-28 16:21:52 UTC

The most well-known legend of Queen Saint Isabel is that of the Miracle of the Roses. It is said that, on a cold winter's day, the queen left the castle to distribute bread to the poor, but was stopped by King D. Dinis, who asked what she was carrying. Isabel replied that they were roses, and when she opened her cloak, the bread miraculously transformed into roses, proving her holiness and compassion.

Serra da Estrela

susanaantunes6A — 2025-05-28 16:23:02 UTC

One moonlit night, the shepherd was looking up at the starry sky when a tiny star with a child's face came down and told him of his wish.

It was there by God's will to guide the shepherd wherever he wished to go. From then on, the star never left the shepherd, smiling down at him from the sky night after night.

At a certain point, the shepherd decided to leave and called the star to keep him company. He walked for years, always in search of his destination.

One day, the shepherd reached the highest mountain he could find. As it was closest to the sky, and therefore to his star, he decided to stay and live there.

Legend has it that even today you can see a star shining brighter than the others from the Estrela mountain range, out of nostalgia and love for a shepherd.

Vila Nova de Poiares

eufemiaabrantes1 — 2025-06-03 22:53:46 UTC

Legend of the Chanfana

A legend from Vila Nova de Poiares tells of a goat shepherd called ‘Ti Henrique’ from the village of Olho Marinho in Vila Nova de Poiares who, when he saw that a goat from his herd called ‘Malhada’ was becoming old and unprofitable, as it no longer gave milk to make cheese or gave birth to kids, which were a great source of income, decided to make a “delicacy” which he called ‘Chanfana’.

So he gathered the utensils and ingredients needed to make this ‘Chanfana’: a black clay pot, made in Olho Marinho; he added good wine from Pereiro and the spices he had, and taking advantage of the heat from a batch of forehead bread that had just come out of the oven, he left the pot there. The next day he went to taste the meat and realised that the wine had tenderised it and made it very tasty. It was also a way of keeping the roast meat for much longer. This is how he ended up inventing this marvellous gastronomic dish that the people of Poyares came to call ‘Chanfana’.

* The Legend of the Chanfana contains numerous aspects of the Intangible Heritage of what is now the municipality of Vila Nova de Poiares, historically describing this territory in terms of Collective Memory and Identity, in a certainty that it appeared (was invented) from the popular knowledge and need of the simple lands and people of the countryside.