November in Lisbon
Winter in Lisbon brings swings in temperature and daily changes as drastic as what I grew up expecting in Wisconsin. One day is sunny and warm, the next brings heavy rain and strong winds. My car currently has several changes of clothes and various shoes to be prepared for anything—especially when going to the barn, which is on a hill and closer to the ocean, presenting a whole different set of weather patterns. But the city also has an exceptional charm in the winter: the white cobblestones gleam from the frequent rain blasts; the moss on the trees turns bright green; soft grass pokes up from rich brown dirt; and the morning dew makes the leaves glisten. Here, winter isn’t gray and white—it’s green and bright green.
Last week after dropping the kids off at school, I had almost one hour before my yoga class. Lisbon’s “green lung” nature reserve is a 15-minute walk away, so I decided to go for a hike. On the various trails I followed, I found only one other person. Otherwise, the park was mine to admire. And breathe in.
November 13th is the festival of St. Martin. The kids’ school said that a chestnut seller would be in their courtyard and that the kids could bring change along to buy a paper cone of chestnuts (castanhas). In our family, we love the roasted chestnuts that vendors begin selling in November throughout the city, but I had no idea why Nov. 13th was a significant day for eating them or what St. Martin had to do with it! So I did a little digging. It is believed that St. Martin cut his cloak in half to give it to a beggar who was cold, at which time the skies opened and the sun shone on Martin, allowing him to get home without freezing. The early days of November—often clear and sunny—are called St. Martin’s summer, and it’s when the last of the winter harvest foods ripen and are collected. This is when the chestnuts ripen and the first wines in Portugal are ready to taste. Prior to the introduction of potatoes from Western Europe, the chestnut was the staple starch in the Portuguese diet. Today, you can find many dishes made with chestnuts at this time of year, including a Goan Indian restaurant we ate at recently, where I had a chestnut and mushroom stew that was divine!
For us Americans, Halloween is also an important celebration of late fall/early winter! Here in Portugal, Halloween is called Dia das Bruxas (Witches day). This one is most likely a carry-over from the American Halloween, but the Portuguese have had their own similar tradition as well, which some of the grooms at the barn explained to me. Nov. 1st, a national holiday, is the day of Saints and Martyrs, and it starts in the morning with a tradition called Fiéis de Deus. In the morning, kids go to their relatives houses to ask for bread or fruit. Later in the day the family goes to the graves of their relatives to clean the gravestones, decorate them with flowers, and leave offerings of the fruits, vegetables, or breads collected (sometimes by the kids in the morning!). I took the kids to the barn on this day since they weren’t in school, and on our drive home, we saw stands of flowers set up outside a cemetery and the street was lined with cars and people coming and going. For our part, we enjoyed a kids’ Halloween party organized by a group of expats.
I will conclude with some images I’ve taken as we’ve moved around the city on date nights and the weekends. As we plan for holiday travel and I anticipate being gone for a bit, I’m happy we’ve had these few months just staying home and enjoying life in Lisbon.
