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Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina
The sacristy
Cortejo Académico (Parade).
Along the river Douro"Queima das Fitas" - Festivity of the students
"The Queima das Fitas (Portuguese for Burning of the Ribbons) is a traditional festivity of the students of some Portuguese universities." (source: Wikipedia)
If you're planning to come to Porto and want to see traditional festivities, you should schedule your trip to the first days of May. The Queima das Fitas is held every year, starts on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May at midnight and lasts a week (p.e. this year: May 1st - May 8th, 2010).
The Queima das Fitas comprehends several events, but I'll mention only the main events:
- It starts officialy with the Monumental Serenata (Serenade) on Sunday at midnight at the "Cadeia da Relação" (near the "Torre dos Clérigos"), were a group of students play Fado. Students from all universities and other higher education institutions of the city attend this event wearing the traditional uniform (composed by a black suit, white shirt, black tie and black cloak). Final year students bring their black folders with colored ribbons, being the colour of the ribbons related to the faculty they attend.
For example:
Yellow - Medicine
Light Blue - Sciences
Reddish Brown - Engineering
Dark Blue - Letters
White - Architecture
Red - Law School
Red and White - Business School
Orange - Psychology and Education Sciences
Purple - Pharmaceutics
(...)
- On Tuesday the Queima das Fitas reaches its peak with the Cortejo Académico (Parade), when students from the universities march through the downtown streets till they reach the city hall, where they're greeted by the Mayor. During the parade through the city, different year students wear and play different parts: the graduates (the final year students) wear a top-hat and a cane, both the colour of their Faculty; the sophomores wear the traditional costume with their capes fully crossed; the freshmen (who after being greeted by the Mayor become sophomores) wear funny/silly outfits (usually with carnival props related to baby-costumes) the same colour as their Faculty, sing songs as loud as they can, do some sort of group dances, and when they get to the Town Hall have to crawl on their hands and feet to walk by the Mayor. It's a funny and colourful parade, you shouldn't miss it if you have the chance to go!
- During every night of the week a series of concerts takes place on the Queimódromo (next to the city's park). The entry is paid.
(based on Wikipedia page of "Queima das Fitas" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queima_das_Fitas)
