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On Sunday, Vila Real fulfills the tradition of going on stage in a year marked by the pandemic, without the usual party and with fear of pauses in the sales of this typical sweet that attracts people of all ages.
The hermitage of Santa Luzia, in the town of Vila Nova, at one of the entrances to the city of Vila Real, will have its doors open on Sunday, but this year there will be no stalls on the premises, to avoid crowds of people .
The president of the Folhadela Board, Manuel Libório, told the Lusa agency today that, because of the covid-19, the party cannot be the same, which has happened for the first time since he remembers.
Maria José Seixas works in the hotel sector and earns “extra money” from the sale of whistles, the demand for which increases at this time of year, although it is already a sweet requested throughout the year.
It is a tradition that on the day of Santa Luzia, December 13, the girl offers the whistle to the boy who, in February, corresponds to him with the hook.
María José knows that, because of the pandemic, people are more closed at home and in 2020 they will not make the same number of whistles as in previous years.
In 2019, he brought “more than a thousand whistles” to the chapel and, by the end of the mass, he had “sold everything.”
“It is not as much as in other years, but it is ready, go on. By Sunday I already have quite a few dozen requested by those who usually buy, but this year they are not going to the chapel,” he said.
Since November he has received orders, which he delivers directly to customers’ homes, and uses his free time to cook the sweets, everything by hand, from rolling out the dough, cutting and making the filling, with the pumpkins from the garden.
He learned from his grandparents and began to do it every year to “not let the tradition fall.”
The pito, stuffed with pumpkin jam and covered with dough, is shaped like a kind of old-fashioned dressing that you could see.
Santa Luzia is the patron saint of patients with eye problems.
This tradition began as a religious one and ended, over time, having a popular character and it is women and men of all ages who join the game.
In the center of the city, the Lapão pastry shop also prepares itself in advance to have everything ready for the ritual that “is already ingrained in the people of Vila Real”.
As all this is very manual, it is necessary to have a previous preparation to then do things in conditions ”, stressed Rosa Cramez.
This official recalled that, due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the traditional bakery will close at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday and, therefore, said that she hopes that the whistle will also be eaten in the following days.
“What is not eaten on the day of Santa Luzia is eaten the other day,” he said, recalling a popular saying.
However, in addition to face-to-face sales, this establishment also joined takeout and home deliveries.
Jorge Mourão, from the Nova Pompeia patisserie, talks about a complicated year for the business due to the covid-19, but he challenged the population to comply with the Vila Real tradition, for which his establishment is preparing in advance.
In social networks Nova Pompeia has declared the “whistle season” open today, referring to having the help of customers so that “the day of Santa Luzia does not go unnoticed”.
Vila Real is part of the group of municipalities with a very high risk of contagion from the new coronavirus.
Portugal has been in a state of emergency from November 9 to December 23, a period during which there is a mandatory curfew in counties with the highest risk of contagion.
According to the latest bulletin from the General Directorate of Health (DGS), the country has at least 5,373 deaths associated with covid-19 in 340,287 confirmed cases of infection.
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