A forgotten historical heritage in Portugal: Castro de Alvarelhos

Portugal is currently one of the most important destinations for tourism in the world. The country has wonderful places for you to meet. Although it is a small country, it is characterized by a great diversity. In the south, beyond Lisbon, it is warmer and attract tourism towards the beaches and the center and north may be perhaps, the places most sought  by tourists for historical attractions. Actually the north of the country, more precisely in the city of Porto, we can find representative historical heritages, including the historical center of this city is considered world heritage by UNESCO. We could talk here about the beauties of Porto, Coimbra and others and be able to write a book of several pages to talk about its qualities. But at the moment I would like to speak of an important and unknown place in the north of Portugal: Castro de Alvarelhos. 

Castro de Alvarelhos is located in Alvarelhos, in the parish of Trofa. The region had several periods of occupation. Studies show us that the first inhabitants of this area occupied it in the bronze era. The most remarkable period of occupation lasted until the fifth century AD. C. under Roman domination. After this period, the population perhaps due to a fire, left the place and moved to another unknown place. The area would be occupied again between the ninth and twelfth centuries. In the period of the Roman occupation, the Castro acquired a dimension considered with well defined urbanistic traces by domestic and public spaces. In this space, domus-style houses are identified, overlapping with the iron age constructions. We can still see the ruins of the buildings of the medieval period as the second church of Alvarelhos and their tombs. Castro de Alvarelhos has been considered a National Cultural Heritage since June 1910.

In this brief history we can see the historical importance of this patrimony for Portugal and for the world. But it seems the region lacks the recognition it should have. Most of the time, the place does not receive visitors, although it is well preserved, the monument is forgotten, perhaps because of the distance from the center of Porto or perhaps because tourist agents in Portugal have no interest in investing in alternative ways to promote tourism, being always in a comfortable zone of easy profit with its scheduled tours. Actually Portugal is a small place in relation to the territory, but because of the patrimony we can consider a big country, it seems that Portugal has a patrimony in each corner. The whole country is a patrimony. It is also difficult to convince tourists to know a place that is not in the media. Perhaps the question is here, if Portugal could promote this region more, as well as others, then the tourist could have reasons to return to the country.

To understand the Brazilians

Brazil is a country with great territorial and cultural diversity. For this reason, you need to understand some aspects to get a view on your people. In the first place, the diversities, colonization, formation of the national state and its influences can explain to a certain extent the character of the Brazilian. But the discussion is long, complex and over the years several thinkers have tried to explain what the Brazilian is, in any case, is not a simple exercise, a plausible explanation can be made through a determined cut of reality, could say, using a Weberian category, the ideal type as Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda did perfectly in his studies on the "homem cordial" (cordial man in English), succeeded in explaining the main aspect of our culture. There are several other studies in the most diverse aspects. At the moment we will make a brief analysis on one of these aspects: the Brazilian passions. Yes, the Brazilian is a passionate people, it is as if we live inside a football field in an eternal game, at all times supporting one side or the another and in a passionate way.

The daily life of the Brazilian is full of passions and this you can see in gestures, spoken expressions and here we have three categories that perhaps may be the most important to understand what I mean. In this case we are talking about football, religion and politics. A few years ago, there was a controversial issue in the city of São Paulo about taxi drivers because the city council instructed these drivers when they were with their clients not to talk about some aspects such as football and politics not to cause problems, instruction was controversial at that time, but the city council was working precisely on the main issue of conflicts in the daily routine of Brazilians.

The Brazilian is really passionate, the discussions are difficult sometimes on a simple football game, the involvement is deep and there is a lot of fanaticism. It is notorious on Mondays or Thursdays that people go out with their football team shirts on the streets and it is easy for anyone to identify which team has won the last game. In some cities it is very dangerous to walk around the city wearing your team's t-shirt, there have even been murders of people because they are simply wearing the shirts of the opposing team. In cities like Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre, where there is a great polarization around only two teams, the problem may be bigger.
In politics and religion the same happens, of course, obeying the proportions due, but the political and religious polarization in Brazil and the latent social tensions when they rebel, show the outcry of feelings. The discussion is beyond simple disagreements, the dispute is as a football game, society is divided between the twisted two teams in a championship final.

Reflexions about brazilian carnival and politics

The events of Brazil in recent years have led the country to an explicit polarization, because in our country has always been a great division not only in social, but regional and ethnic classes. The question is, in fact, the far right groups lived in the surdine and now they are showing up and even attaining power. So the main press and social media channels talk about the characteristics of the Carnival of 2019, like the most politic carnival of the last years. But for the people who know the carnival and study it, we can conclude that the statement is not a reflection of reality. What happens, in fact, is the reaction of the groups that are challenged at the carnival, like the president, his political party and his followers.

The contest in the carnival is a very common aspect, we have several samba schools and sounds on the samba avenue with controversial, highly political scenarios and it is important to highlight the role of eminent members of samba schools such as Paulo da Portela, Candeia and others. I could talk about several here, all of them have importance in their historical moments, but perhaps for the fact of being a pioneer, I will speak of a prominent person in the carioca carnival: Paulo da Portela.

Paulo Benjamin de Oliveira that was his name. One of the founders of the School of Samba Portela, was protagonist of the most important moment of the samba universe. With the political capacity and social vision was one of the responsible for the officialization of the carnival in Brazil. From the 1930s the carnival in Brazil became an official event and the whole process was created through the political articulation of the group of Paulo da Portela.

However, the carnival in Brazil that was born in the nineteenth century through the actions of poor and excluded, underwent various transformations, it was the scene of revolutions in both music and social behavior, in fact, the carnival provoked revolutions in the country and this aspect is necessary to understand by knowing that carnival is a political manifestation in itself.

Therefore, the current carnival is not the most politicized, the difference is in the reaction of the government and its groups of followers the extreme way they deal with these contradictory and antagonistic groups. There is also a growing unpopularity of the president over his repressive stance. Samba and carnival were always a form of resistance and faced with a dictatorial attitude, this characteristics ends up appearing more.

We all have our Ramalhete Street.

The Brazilian composer Tavito died last week, but for me his songs will be eternal. My first contact with his work happened when I was a young dreamer in my hometown and could not also be different, the first song was the wonderful Ramalhete Street. I believe it is difficult to speak of feelings in another language and culture, because behind a speech there are specific symbolism, identities and feelings. In my native language there is a particular word called "saudade", this word is so special that for a foreigner to understand it is necessary to live in Brazil and to know our feeling deeply. And this song talk about this feeling and its relation with our memory. 

The musician Tavito lived in one of the most important cities of the state of Minas Gerais, however, at the time, "progress" had not yet reached that place, Belo Horizonte was a small, bucolic, quiet and provincial town. But not only the city is a portrait of the time, but also music is a portrait of a generation at that time of their lives. The song talks about nostalgia, could say nostalgic situation. Innocence, discovery of the world and love. At the time, there was the facilities of communication as nowadays, that's why love was written on tickets, there were love letters and the teenagers began to have first contacts with an emotion that would be part of their entire life.

In fact the music is by Tavito and his partner Ney Azambuja and when I speak of Ramalhetes street of each one is because of the fact that we all have in our memory, perhaps unforgettable moments, in the best part of our lives: youth. In the streets, at that time, there were poems on every corner, casual encounters, exchange of looks and dreams. It was time to dream, the first hug, the first kiss, the discovery of passion. All this remained in our memory and Tavito when he played that song transported us to the streets and its "ramalhetes" that exist inside us.

Is there an Abbey Road in Minas Gerais?

The title of this article may be weird to you and you may ask me: how is this possible? What is the relation between the English band and the culture of this state of Brazil? Well, it's notorious that the Beatles had a major influence on the world's music scene, and in Brazil, it could not be different. In the late 1960s and early 1970s a movement called "Clube da Esquina" happened, not necessarily an organization but a gathering of friends at the corner of a street in the city of Belo Horizonte, whose members had no claim to be one of the most important cultural movements in Brazilian history.

However, in a natural way, the group began their first compositions. Names such as Milton Nascimento, Beto Guedes, Lô Borges, Fernando Brant and others would become prominent musicians and composers in the Brazilian music scene. The Clube da Esquina's music was revolutionary for that time, with experiments and new sonorities, a mixture of Brazilian traditions and influence of progressive English rock and the most striking being of the Beatles. All members of Clube da Esquina have always said about this inspiration.
In fact, the capital of Minas Gerais, the city of Belo Horizonte was Abbey Road, although the artists had to migrate to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, because these cities were at that time the musical center of the country. But the mainly musical creations of the iconic album called Clube da Esquina - which years later would have the second version - was in Belo Horizonte at the home of some members of the group: the Borges family. The story is long, the production is eternal and here we can write long articles on just this group, but at the moment it is of interest to speak only about this important influence. I do not know if Beatles members have a sense of role in history, how they have influenced generations, changed behavior patterns, and we can say the musical culture of a traditional region. At that time Belo Horizonte was only a provincial city, although geographically close, in cultural aspects it was far from metropolis.
We had our Abbey Road in Minas Gerais, something that became universal on the other side of the ocean influencing generations that also produced an imposing work in Brazil that became universal as well. The world knows the Clube da Esquina, but perhaps they do not know the great influence of the English group.