Podence

 

  Podence is a village with a unique ethnographic tradition connected to the Careto figure. Wearing their costumes made out of fringed quilts of colourful wool, with threaded rattles and belt with bells and their faces covered with brass masks the Caretos appear in Podence on Carnival days, running around the village and creating an atmosphere of uproar, mystery and seduction.

In the Casa do Careto, a museum which was open to the public in 2004, paintings from Graça Morais and Balbina Mendes and photographs from António Pinto and Francisco Salgueiro, as well as with some publications, costumes, rattles, masks and all of the enigmatic figures apparel are in exhibition. We can also find the only beings that the Caretos respect despite all their antics, mischief, shouting and rattles - the Marafonas. In this versatile space, which is daily open to the public, there is also a regional inn, where you can taste the gastronomic products of this region.

    The Church consecrated to Our Lady of Purification, which was reconstructed in 1703, possesses painted altarpieces of great value from the 17th century, important carved woodwork and an armored tomb by one of the confessionals.
    Administratively linked to Podence and only 2km east of it, is the village of Azibeiro, in whose chapel there is an important painting by Bustamante.

 

<-- Detail of the "S. Sebastião" painting in the  Chapel of Azibeiro (Damião Rodrigues Bustamante, séc. XVIII).