17 May 2012

tradition


. today we celebrate "dia da espiga" (literally meaning wheat stalk day) . it is always celebrated on a thursday 40 days after easter . traditionally people would go to the fields on this day to gather a selection of plants to make a bunch which then would be placed behind the entrance door until the following year when it was replaced by a new one . by doing so it would bring a good year to the home . this day was also considered to be the most sacred day of the year and a day when people shouldn't work (where I live it is a holiday but not everywhere in the country) . it was also called "dia da hora" (day of the hour) because there was a belief that there was a certain hour of this day, midday, when everything stopped ... the water from the river didn't flow, milk didn't curdle, bread didn't leaven and leaves wouldn't cross each other . it was during this hour that people would collect the plants to make the bunch . on this day harvest is supposed to begin . the plants forming the bunch all have pagan and religious meanings ...
olive branch . olive oil + peace
wheat stalk . bread (meaning food)
daisy . wealth (gold and silver)
vine . wine + happiness
poppy . love + life (errata: on the image I wrote happiness when I should have written life)
rosemary . health + strength (where I live this is rarely used because rosemary cannot be found easily)
. I picked my one this morning in the fields .

most of this information was gathered from wikipedia
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. hoje celebra-se o dia da espiga . é muito engraçada a descrição que vem no wikipédia . por aqui é feriado e eu fui aos campos esta manhã apanhar o meu ramo .