Storm Charles pushes Portugal's St Martin's Day chestnut parties back to the weekend
With mainland Portugal on alert on Wednesday 11 November, Chaves and Monforte move their magusto and market to Friday, Penafiel shifts its horse fair to Saturday and its procession to Sunday, and two festivals are off altogether.
Wednesday is St Martin’s Day, the day Portugal roasts chestnuts, opens the new wine and hopes for the “summer of São Martinho”. This year the saint is waiting. With the Government declaring an alert for the whole mainland on the 11th and outdoor events suspended, town halls spent Tuesday afternoon rewriting their programmes.
The reason is Storm Charles, which brings red wind warnings to several districts and has already shut schools across the country on Wednesday. Roasting chestnuts in the street in gusts above 100 km/h is nobody’s idea of a party.
When is the Chaves magusto now?
Friday 13 November. Chaves town hall postponed its magusto in the historic Madalena quarter and kept the line-up: accordion players at 17:00, Marco & Rafael at 19:00, then a tasca trail with roast chestnuts and jeropiga (a sweet fortified wine), and RytmoShow closing the night from 21:00. The call came before the national alert was even declared.
Down in Monforte, in the Alto Alentejo, the 20th St Martin’s Market also moves from Wednesday to Friday the 13th, at the municipal market hall.
What changes at Penafiel’s St Martin festivities?
Penafiel has cancelled everything planned for the 11th. Penafiel council’s revised programme moves the horse fair to Saturday at the same hours, and the mass and procession in the saint’s honour to Sunday at 10:30 and 11:30, weather permitting.
Which St Martin’s festivals are cancelled outright?
In São Martinho de Anta, in the Sabrosa municipality of the Douro, the festival committee called off the patron saint’s feast and promises the magusto on a date still to be announced. In Madeira, the São Martinho arraial, already pushed back to 14 and 15 November, has now been cancelled for good because of the island’s red warning (Wednesday’s solemn mass at 19:30 still goes ahead). Madeira’s traditional St Martin’s road race has also been moved to Thursday.
Before you head out
Expect the list to grow by Wednesday morning. If you have a chestnut party in the diary, check the town hall or parish council page before you drive anywhere. Portimão’s St Martin’s Fair in the Algarve runs until the 15th, so it is worth a check too. The chestnuts will keep for a few days.
Image: Vitor Oliveira / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
