Festivity of the Goat and “Canhoto”

The village of Cidões has just 20 inhabitants. It’s located in Trás-os-Montes, in the northern inland of Portugal. Every year, on the Saturday after 31 October, the village celebrates the Festivity of the Goat and “Canhoto”. The “Canhoto” is a tree trunk that is burned in the bonfire that burns during the festival in the centee of the village.
This is an ancient ritual of Celtic origin. It was originally called “Samhain” and was the most important Celtic celebration in the whole of Europe until their conversion to Christianity. It was with this festival that the Celtic New Year began, with the start of the dark season. This festival came to be known as Halloween. In Cidões, it’s called the Festivity of the Goat and “Canhoto”.

In the morning, a few men from the village prepare a meal of goat meat, which is cooked for hours in iron pots. At 7 pm, the festival begins, most of which takes place in the center of the village. The giant star is lit and the bonfire is lit with the “Canhoto” placed in the centre. The Celtic procession starts through the village streets towards the festival site: a druid, goddesses, bagpipers and Celtic dances. At 11 pm, the “Cabrão”, or giant goat, a sculptural figure 7 metres high, is burned.

At around midnight, the Devil rides down the village streets to the festival site in an ox cart pulled by local men. The ox cart has its clutches tightened to make the screeching sound more frightening. After the Devil goes round the festival grounds trying to scare the participants, he is expelled by the Druid, only to return a year later. Until then, the village will be protected from all evils, envy, misfortune and bad luck.

The photographs were taken with two Leica bodies: an R5, fitted with an Elmarit 35/2.8 mm and a Metz 32 Z-2 flash, and an R6, fitted with a Summilux 50 mm/1.4, for available light photography. Both lenses were fitted with B+W medium yellow 022 filters. As it was raining, I protected both cameras with rain sleeves.

All photos were shot on Foma 400 Action, an inexpensive but high-quality alternative to the Kodak and Ilford equivalents.

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