Hi, it’s Fei Fei again. I don’t have much to report from the beginning of the week: I caught a cold and spent two days at the residencia rather than go to the hospital and get others sick.
The latter half of the week has been much more interesting. Thursday night and Friday, we got to see some of the traditions of the island – the festas, or festivals of the Holy Spirit, celebrated all over the island all summer long. Each village has an império, which is a house of the Holy Spirit; they are these little colorful chapels where the silver crowns of the Holy Spirit are kept. There is a complex tradition behind the celebrations. From what I can understand, people pray to the patron saint, such as when they have financial hardship or health problems. When they have their prayers answered, they commit to receiving the crown in their house for a week, and they put on a feast for the neighbors. Then at some point all the crowns are returned to the império, and then there is a week of feasts, prayers, and other events to celebrate the Holy Spirit. A priest we met on Friday explained that this tradition had come from mainland Europe centuries ago, but it has now died out everywhere but these islands.
We were invited to a dinner on Thursday night, and it was amazing. After socializing outside the church, we were invited inside, where there were long tables set up with jugs of wine and juice, and plenty of bread. There were two courses – a delicious fish soup followed by another dish of fish (congro? some sort of eel). I sat next to a fisherman, and we had a good time together even though I didn’t understand most of what he said. His solution to me not understanding Portuguese seemed to be speaking Portuguese even louder. With lots of gestures, he explained that I should avoid the fish spines, that the soup was very hot, and that I could rip bread up and dip it in the soup to eat. I was very touched by his many efforts to make me feel welcome and help take care of me, even though we couldn’t really talk.
Friday morning, Chris and I went to the império to observe another tradition; the butchering of seven cows/bulls. When we got there, they were unloading quarters of cows off a truck and moving them onto meat hooks in the back room of the império. Altogether, there must have been many hundreds of pounds of meat. One butcher and an assistant did all the work, although there were many other men helping to set up and lend a hand where needed. This one man worked very quickly with a few sharp knives and an electric saw, and we watched him cut up about half of a bull in an hour. By the time we left, one table was mostly filled with cuts of meat. Some of the meat is given to benefactors of the festa (those who paid to make it happen). Some is given to the poor. Some is used for the big public feast (the função) on Sunday. I’m looking forward to going to mass and the feast on Sunday – I’m sure we’ll have more to report after that!
Since Fei Fei and I experienced much of the same things during the week (with exception to getting sick), I will add that from a culinary perspective on Friday night, the fish served as the main course following the wonderful fish soup that could only be translated as "fish soup" were both delicious and fresh. I emphasize fresh because I am not much of a fish eater and, when I do eat fish, eating fish that isn't fresh almost guarantees a moment of retching from the taste of 'fishiness' that comes with eating not so fresh fish. In this case, the fish did not have a fishy taste at all. And, as picky as I am with fish, I had three bowls of soup and one rather large congrio steak.
ReplyDeleteHowever, for those ready to dive into what would otherwise look like a mean, nasty fish in wild, take your time eating this delectable dish. I say this because of the reports I received at the hospital. From what I understand, it is all too common for patients admitted to the emergency room and the gastroenterology unit to complain of fish bones stuck in their throat. Getting a fish bone caught in your throat is not something to take lightly since it can cause life threatening infections and scarring. That said, the bones found in the congrio are rather slim and small, and chances are a person will not get one caught. However, take your time eating it and keep the bones ingested to a minimum. They won't get in the way of your enjoyment of this unique and wonderful dish, just be a little cognizant of it.
With respect to the butchering of the meat, I worked for a grocery store when I was young, and I was so impressed with the butchering elegance of the primary, and only, butcher. He was amazingly fast and precise… much like a surgeon. The electric table saw was also being used, and bogged down a few times when cutting through the bigger bones and cuts, but the process started off quickly and a whole side of beef was butchered in, what seemed to be, only minutes. That said, there appeared to be at least 20 sides of beef that required butchering into much smaller cuts. I learned the following day that it took the best part of Friday and part of Saturday to complete this humongous task. All done on a volunteer basis. Impressive.
I’ll post another response about my feelings toward my new friends who both work and volunteer at the Impresario. However, I am so wonderfully pleased to see so many people in the community working together to get this annual festivity together. It makes me wonder where we lost that sort of community unity in such a broad way across the U.S. But, it still exists in pockets and I look forward to sharing my experience with others in the U.S. upon my return, as well as the idea of breaking bread with friends and community members in much the same way.
~Christopher