Greetings family and friends,
I hope this finds you in good health and ready to enjoy the summer.
I'm also hoping that the title sparked your curiosity. After hearing some friends rave about visiting the town of Tomar, we decided to take a 3- day trip to check it out. Tomar is located about 3+ hours southeast of Porto and was once a bustling manufacturing town for textiles, flour, paper, and glassworks; among other things. Energy was supplied by water wheels which produced hydraulic resources of the river Nabão, running through the center of town. There is only one replica water wheel operating there today. However, it's the ancient history of Tomar that is most interesting. The town was built on top of the Roman city of Sellium. After the Portuguese conquered the Moors (Portuguese Reconquista), the land was granted in 1159 to the Order of the Knights Templar and, in 1160, Gualdim Pais, the Knights Templar Grand Master in Portugal, laid the first stone of the Castle and Convent of the Knights Templar, making Portugal the first Templar nation in the world. By the early 1300's Pope Clement V was pressuring Europe to suppress the Knights Templar, but Portugal's King Dinis negotiated the transfer of the Order to a newly created Order of Christ, meaning they were no longer loyal to the Pope but to the King of Portugal. By the 15th century Portugal's famous Henry the Navigator moved to Tomar and was made Governor of the Order of Christ (formerly Knights Templar), thus Tomar became the center of Portuguese expansion overseas under Henry, who was instrumental in improving the town in order to attract new settlers. In the late 1400's, Jews moved to Tomar after their expulsion from Spain, expanding the Jewish population there to almost 40% of the total population of Tomar. Their skills and knowledge of trade helped Portugal successfully develop new trade routes with Africa. But of course, at some point, Portugal's King Manuel forced Jews to either become Christians or to leave, which eventually lead to a flurry of persecutions because .... why not? Force everyone to be what you want or, force people to leave. That sounds familiar. 🤔 While in Tomar, we took a fantastic private tour of the area, which included a visit to the Synagogue of Tomar, a designated historical monument and considered the best preserved medieval synagogue in Portugal, the Aqueduct dos Pegões, and the Castelo and Convento de Cristo, which is a UNESCO World Heritage complex.
Tomar also celebrates a few major festivals including a Festa Templária held yearly in July celebrating the town's rich Knights Templar history, complete with torch-lit processions and mock battles, and the Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays) held every four years in July, which supersedes the Festa Templária in those years. The Festa dos Tabuleiros includes a huge parade of young girls from all local parishes wearing long white dresses with colored sashes. On their heads they carry trays/headdresses made in the same height of each girl participating, made up of 30 loaves of bread in a specific shape and weight of 400 grams (0.88 lbs.), arranged in equal spacing and tied to canes on a wicker basket which is decorated with paper flowers, greenery and wheat sheaves. At the top of all this is a Crown of the Cross of Christ. Young boys accompany each girl to offer support, however, the girls are the ones carrying these massive creations on their heads.
I posted more photos from Tomar on Instagram due to limitations of size on gmail. You can also follow this link to see more about the Festival of Trays event. https://www.visitportugal.com/en/content/festa-dos-tabuleiros-festival-of-the-trays
On another note, I'm curious, who in the marketing department at Renova (a Portuguese paper goods company that sells in 70+ countries) thought that anyone would want to blow their nose into a cannabis scented tissue? They market themselves as "innovative", but somehow this one misses the mark for me. These are available in our local grocery store, if you want such a thing.
Nick and I are currently in Copenhagen with my daughter Erinn and two grandkids, Zoe and Owen and next Wednesday we will all travel to Amsterdam for another week of site seeing. My next update will cover this trip.
Adeus, abraços e beijos,
MaryLou