It is a immemorial tradition that some of our elders estimate in more than 200 years. It is made with the images of the saints of great devotion, both from the Parish Church and from the Chapel of Portonovo. This ceremony is performed with a very marked rigor in the steps, stops, lowering of the shoulders and greeting between the images.
They were skippers of the fishing boats of the town, who directed the meeting, being themselves the bearers of the images of the Chapel of Portonovo and always accompanied by their children or young relatives as apprentices so that the tradition and customs would continue and not be lost.
Morning of August 16, the images of the Saints of Portonovo will receive you in “A Ponte do río” where the meeting is held The last Sunday of August They return to the Parish Church.
The images of the Parish Church are: Our Lady Santa María La Digna de Portonovo (patron saint of the parish) and Our Lady the Virgin of the Rosary. In recent years, other images have also been added, such as San José, from Adina or San Mauro, -Amaro-, from Arra (this one occasionally).
The images of Portonovo are: San Roque (the Patron), Santa Catalina (the Employer), the Virgen del Carmen and Santa Lucía.
The images carried on shoulders, keep a distance of 6 meters between them. At the moment of arrival to the “ponte do río” they lower all the images from their shoulders and carry them hand in hand at the height of their bodies. When they reach a distance of 9 meters they stop, take 3 steps forward and place the images on the ground, pick them up and thus repeat these movements until they cover the path that separates them. When the images are face to face, the bearers place them on the ground and embrace each other, doing so in representation of the images they are carrying, saying the word welcome. The procession resumes to the sound of the brass band and pipers.
the same ceremonial repeats on the last Sunday of August in the farewell of the images of Adina, except that the images of the Chapel go in front to turn as they pass “a ponte do río”. It acts as in the arrival, except that the greeting phrase is changed to the one of “until the year.”
