The
council of Caldas da Rainha is proud of its folk dance groups,
especially “OS AZEITONEIROS”. They have been
excellent embassadors of the name of our city of Caldas da Rainha and
the village of Alvorninha, not only along our country, but also
abbroad, such as in Spain, England, United States of America,
Switzerland, Turkey, Poland, Sweden, Greece, Canada, France and
Ireland, defending our customs and traditions.
This
folk dance group has known how to preserve the authentic traditions
of our ancestors, such as their way of living in the fields, dressing
(clothing), songs, dances, handcraft, agriculture technics,
traditional dishes, etc... . Through a deep investigation near the
older people of this village, this group knew better than no one how
to preserve all that etnography, which brought them the recognition
of the Portuguese Folklore Federation and INATEL. The members of our
city council are proud of being side by side with this group, in
order to incentivate and support it, so that next generations can
understand better what the reallity of their ancestors really was.
Their
folk dances and songs are genuine, authentic and demonstrate very
well how the life style of the habitants of their village used to be.
The olive culture and the olive oil production was one of the main
activities in the beggining of the twentieth century and a mean of
subsistance for many families at the time and other groups that would
arrive from other regions to gather the olives.
We
hope that the folk dance group “0S AZEITONEIROS”
continue determined in preserving these customs and also in being
great embassadors of the council of Caldas da Rainha and the village
of Alvorninha along the country and also abbroad.
Dr.ª
Maria da Conceição Pereira Jardim
Councillor
of Culture
The
folk dance group “OS AZEITONEIROS” is one of the
folk groups of our council with the biggest tradition, most genuine
and that better represents the dances and songs of this region. The
village of Alvorninha is one of the oldest of our council, even older
then the city of Caldas da Rainha.
As
mayor of this city, I am very proud of this group because of its high
level of performance and effort in preserving the essence of the
people that lived in the end of the nineteenth century and beggining
of the twentieth century and also their activities in the farms and
fields of the village of Alvorninha. Their project has travelled all
along our country and also abbroad to several parts of the world as
cultural embassadors of our council and country.
The
folk dance group “OS AZEITONEIROS” is a motive of
pride for our council and as so, I hope that they continue their
project for many years with the same will in serving the culture of
our council of Caldas da Rainha.
Dr.
Fernando Costa
Mayor
of the Council of Caldas da Rainha
The
folk dance group “OS AZEITONEIROS” has been able
to take the name of the village of Alvorninha all along the country
and to the several corners of the world, showing the actual
generations the form of living of the population in the beggining of
the twentieth century.
Their
project offers the possibility to further generations, how to
understand the reality of the past, such as the importance and weight
of agriculture in the subsistance of the population of this village,
where the olive culture was the activity with the biggest projection
along the many farms of our village.
I
would like to congratulate them beyond the whole village, by the
excellent work as authentic embassadors and hope that they continue
to delight us wth their folk dances, songs and etnography, so that
tomorrow we can understand the wealth of our past and our history.
