The colours of our flag are: red (courage and blood of the Portuguese people that died in the battle), green (hope), armillary sphere (the world that the Portuguese navigators had discovered in the XV and XVI centuries and the peoples with who had changed ideas and commerce).
Our typical dishes are “Cozido à Portuguesa”, “Feijoada”, codfish. We have a very rich gastronomy. We have different kinds of folk dance, “Vira”, “Corridinho”, “Saias”, “Fandango” and others. Nowadays we wear what everybody wears in other countries, in the past the clothes were different according to the region.
The following are the names of some of the most famous artists in our country :
-Painting – Cargaleiro, Júlio Pomar, Vieira da Silva
- Music – Amália Rodrigues, Mariza (Fado)
- Xutos e Pontapés, GNR, Delfins and UHF (Pop/Rock)
MadreDeus, Rui Veloso, Vitorino (different kinds of music)
- Siza Vieira (architecture)
- José Saramago (literature)
The Portuguese educational system is structured in four levels:
Pre-school - not mandatory and destined for children from the age of 2 to 6;
Basic - which is organized in three cycles and constitutes mandatory minimumeducation:
1st Cycle- 4 years of schooling;
2nd Cycle - 2 years of schooling;
3rd Cycle - 3 years of schooling;
Secondary - 3 years of schooling;
Higher.
Some children start studying English in primary school. But all the pupils start studying English in the 5th grade, at 10/11 years old.
The activities in our schools are:
Football, music, riding, swimming, volleyball, basketball and we have different subjects: Science; History; Portuguese; English; French; Maths; Geography; Chemistry.
A Portuguese corrida de touros has three main events:
Cavaleiro - A horseman (rider), dressed in traditional 18th century costumes fights the bull from horseback. The horses are Portuguese Lusitanians, specially trained for the fights. These horses are usually skilled in dressage and may exhibit their art in the arena. The purpose of this fight is to stab three or four bandarilhas (small javelins) in the back of the bull. Horseback bullfighters are usually members of old aristocratic families.
Bandarilheiros - Akin to the Spanish matadores, but without the sword. These men simply play the bull with a red coat.
Forcados - The forcados are a group of eight men who challenge the bull directly, without any protection or weapon of defense. The front man provokes the bull into a charge to perform a pega de touros (bull catch). The front man secures the animal's head (usually it is a violent choke) and is quickly aided by his fellows who surround and secure the animal until he is subdued. Forcados were usually people from lower classes who practice their art through amateur associations.
Portuguese Bullfighting: the bull is not killed in the ring and the fight is accordingly referred to as a "bloodless bullfight". After these three sets, the bull is removed from the arena alive and is sometimes killed, away from the audience's sight, by a professional butcher. More often than not, many bulls are entered into other events, such as rodeos in California, or released to pasture until their end days. Nevertheless, tradition was so strong at the small town of Barrancos, where the bull was illegally put to death in the arena, that the government was forced to relent and permit the town to follow its ancient matador tradition and kill the bull in the arena. There are many forms of traditional, popular bullfighting in Portugal, differing from the "official" version, some of which involve groups of people doing a tug-of-war with young bulls, by holding large wooden structures into which the animals charge. In the Azores, bullfighting is often remniscent of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, in which those most at risk are human beings, not the bulls themselves.
In Portugal, some bulls have their horns severed in a way that they do not present sharp points. This practice is believed to have been introduced by King Joseph I of Portugal after a tragic event in a bullfight he was presiding. The son and heir of the Marquis of Marialva was fighting a bull on horseback when the animal wounded his horse. The young man fell, was kicked by the bull and killed. The Marquis himself, then around 70 years of age, jumped from the royal cabin that he shared with the king, drew his sword and killed the animal.
Also in Portugal, the main stars of bullfighting are the cavaleiros, as opposed to Spain, where the matadores are the most prominent bullfighters.
Our typical dishes are “Cozido à Portuguesa”, “Feijoada”, codfish. We have a very rich gastronomy. We have different kinds of folk dance, “Vira”, “Corridinho”, “Saias”, “Fandango” and others. Nowadays we wear what everybody wears in other countries, in the past the clothes were different according to the region.
The following are the names of some of the most famous artists in our country :
-Painting – Cargaleiro, Júlio Pomar, Vieira da Silva
- Music – Amália Rodrigues, Mariza (Fado)
- Xutos e Pontapés, GNR, Delfins and UHF (Pop/Rock)
MadreDeus, Rui Veloso, Vitorino (different kinds of music)
- Siza Vieira (architecture)
- José Saramago (literature)
The Portuguese educational system is structured in four levels:
Pre-school - not mandatory and destined for children from the age of 2 to 6;
Basic - which is organized in three cycles and constitutes mandatory minimumeducation:
1st Cycle- 4 years of schooling;
2nd Cycle - 2 years of schooling;
3rd Cycle - 3 years of schooling;
Secondary - 3 years of schooling;
Higher.
Some children start studying English in primary school. But all the pupils start studying English in the 5th grade, at 10/11 years old.
The activities in our schools are:
Football, music, riding, swimming, volleyball, basketball and we have different subjects: Science; History; Portuguese; English; French; Maths; Geography; Chemistry.
A Portuguese corrida de touros has three main events:
Cavaleiro - A horseman (rider), dressed in traditional 18th century costumes fights the bull from horseback. The horses are Portuguese Lusitanians, specially trained for the fights. These horses are usually skilled in dressage and may exhibit their art in the arena. The purpose of this fight is to stab three or four bandarilhas (small javelins) in the back of the bull. Horseback bullfighters are usually members of old aristocratic families.
Bandarilheiros - Akin to the Spanish matadores, but without the sword. These men simply play the bull with a red coat.
Forcados - The forcados are a group of eight men who challenge the bull directly, without any protection or weapon of defense. The front man provokes the bull into a charge to perform a pega de touros (bull catch). The front man secures the animal's head (usually it is a violent choke) and is quickly aided by his fellows who surround and secure the animal until he is subdued. Forcados were usually people from lower classes who practice their art through amateur associations.
Portuguese Bullfighting: the bull is not killed in the ring and the fight is accordingly referred to as a "bloodless bullfight". After these three sets, the bull is removed from the arena alive and is sometimes killed, away from the audience's sight, by a professional butcher. More often than not, many bulls are entered into other events, such as rodeos in California, or released to pasture until their end days. Nevertheless, tradition was so strong at the small town of Barrancos, where the bull was illegally put to death in the arena, that the government was forced to relent and permit the town to follow its ancient matador tradition and kill the bull in the arena. There are many forms of traditional, popular bullfighting in Portugal, differing from the "official" version, some of which involve groups of people doing a tug-of-war with young bulls, by holding large wooden structures into which the animals charge. In the Azores, bullfighting is often remniscent of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, in which those most at risk are human beings, not the bulls themselves.
In Portugal, some bulls have their horns severed in a way that they do not present sharp points. This practice is believed to have been introduced by King Joseph I of Portugal after a tragic event in a bullfight he was presiding. The son and heir of the Marquis of Marialva was fighting a bull on horseback when the animal wounded his horse. The young man fell, was kicked by the bull and killed. The Marquis himself, then around 70 years of age, jumped from the royal cabin that he shared with the king, drew his sword and killed the animal.
Also in Portugal, the main stars of bullfighting are the cavaleiros, as opposed to Spain, where the matadores are the most prominent bullfighters.
