PHOTOGRAPHY

AMARANTE: ST. GONÇALO HAS GOT A THOUSAND LIVES

St. Gonçalo has got a thousand lives

FLASH

«St. Gonçalo from Amarante

Playful and merry maker,

You always belonged to the old ladies

Devoted matchmaker.»

Traditional

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

Portraits with St. Gonçalo, Gatão-Amarante

Portraits with St. Gonçalo, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

Portraits with St. Gonçalo, Amarante

Portraits with St. Gonçalo, Amarante

Portraits with St. Gonçalo, Amarante

Portraits with St. Gonçalo, Amarante

Portraits with St. Gonçalo, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

St. Gonçalo: June's Festival, Amarante

«St. Gonçalo is already old

Old and mocker

When he passes by the girls

He gets goose-flesh.»

In Amarante the June´s festivals are dedicated to St. Gonçalo. Disputed monk between Benedictines and Dominicans, is worshiped by the people and is known as the old ladies matchmaker, wonder-worker and merry fellow. The festival lasts for three days and three nights. It starts and ends with a volley of gun-fire and a stroll of drums. A single woman, who comes to the June festival and does not get in the church to pull the Saint´s clapper, runs the risk of never getting married… The different groups play in competition, in a deafness beat of the drum: It shall win the one who is the last to lay down his instruments, at about four or five a.m. The festival is over. The "June" is over.