Nazaré – Fish tales
We navigated our way to Nazareth with fine artists João Pedro Vale and Nuno Alexandre Ferreira who, amongst other things, have been working on Portuguese identity and the sea. On this engaging tour, they recalled projects inspired by the fishing village and took new ideas home with them.
At twilight, Edite Poupada Petinga dries fish in front of the old fish market. The processes have changed over the years. Instead of rattan, the mackerel are laid out in a basket in the sun. “Gutting the fish takes only a few hours, but it takes three to dry them.” The sprightly 73 year-old reels off a roll of stories. Aged nine, she already was travelling to Valado, basket on head, to sell fish. Faith feeds her smile and when its time for farewell, between hugs, she shows us her belief in the Almighty: “If it weren’t for God, would it (the sea) be so calm?”. We find ourselves on the beach south of Nazaré, land of fishermen that features in songs written by countless Portuguese songwriters; from Raul Brandão to Alves Redol, who described the tough life of the “children of Ílhavo” who populated the entire Portuguese coast.
Love shack
The fishing town has also been the inspiration for the artistic work of João Pedro Vale. We talk about art works, such as Barco Negro, Ala-Arriba, Uma Fenda na Muralha, 7 calças, As Sandálias do Pescador and Nazareno. At lunch, which is eaten al fresco at Casa Pires, situated in Sítio (the high part of the town with a lovely panoramic view of the coast), between the grilled corvina and fish stew the conversation turns to another Portuguese fishing community, in Provincetown (USA), which has been around since the 19th century. It was there that the fine artist and creative partner, Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, spent three weeks “living in a cabin on the dunes, with no electricity or running water”.
The P-Town exhibition, currently on show at the Boavista gallery in Lisbon, is the result of this artistic residence, where the two artists studied the Portuguese characteristics of emigrants who, despite not speaking Portuguese, seem to be very attached to Portuguese culture. The project also looks at the artistic community in Provincetown at the end of the 19th century, and which, a hundred years later, is an attraction for the gay community, which has chosen it as a place to escape from an “America repressed by morals.” In the American city of today, there are rainbow flags alongside Portuguese ones, and cod fitters and caldo verde soup (both classic Portuguese fare) can be found on restaurant menus.
Here, it’s the love of the sea that makes the Nazarenos preserve tradition. At least that’s the feeling we get after a visit to the Joaquim Manso Museum, where we discover the evolution of Nazaré from prehistory to the present day. In the museum, there is an image of Our Lady of Nazaré saving D. Fuas Roupinho, which dates back to the 16th century. The miracle, which occurred in the 12th century, gave rise to the sanctuary that makes Nazaré a place of pilgrimage. The history of Portugal is also imbued in the landscape round these parts. The São Miguel Fort, which was built in the 16th century and is situated at the foot of the beach, is connected to the first French invasion (1808). It is said that the women of the town seduced Napoleon’s troops and then threw them off the clifftops.
With the help of Álvaro Laborinho’s photographs, we travel to the time that Nazaré became a popular seaside resort (the early 20th century). At that time, fishermen from the beach south of the town began to share it with holidaymakers and some of them became lifesavers during the summer, helping people into the water and setting up huts for tourists. In the autumn, it was common for the wives of these “banheiros” to “ir aos foros”, a practice that lasted until the 1970s and which consisted of the women of Nazaré travelling to the farms of the families from the Ribatejo region who spent their summer in the town, taking them fresh fish and bringing back cured sausages and leather flagons with olive oil.
João Pedro Vale tells us that “the middle class of Massachusetts, in the USA, also went to Provincetown to observe the workers of the fish processing industry.” Back to Portuguese customs, we give the miniatures of traditional Nazaré boats the once over and study the figurines wearing typical regional dress. As for the famous seven skirts (the women’s skirts with seven layers) there are a host of theories, but none involving the number seven or the seven waves. It is thought that, in fact, it was a homemade attempt to imitate the wide-hipped clothes worn by the ladies that invaded the beaches in the summer. Whether they wore one skirt or seven, according to Raul Brandão, this was a matriarchal society where the Nazarena “is the soul of this land”. This is something taken on board by Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, from the time that the artistic duo created the piece Uma Fenda na Muralha (A Crack in the Wall), a sound installation where you can hear the cries of the town’s mourners.
Every land its own use…
After the obligatory stop at Sítio da Nazaré, we continue along the sea front, whose cobblestones are set in a wavy design to match the beach. “Chambre, chambre,” cry the women on their doorsteps. We are well set up at Hotel Mar Bravo, thank you all the same, and we only stop when Manuel Limpinho greets us the next day at the Fishermen’s Museum: “Are you the people doing the filming?”
Before dinner, we go up and down the Elevador da Nazaré and browse in the Cenas & Livros bookshop, where we find an exhibition of Álvaro Labourinho’s photographs, Mar da Nazaré. At the table of the Mar Bravo, “the oldest restaurant in the town,” our hostess, Fátima Araújo, argues that much of this famous fishing village’s reputation and fame is down to António Ferro, Director of the Secretariat for National Propaganda during the time of Salazar (the dictator who ruled Portugal for 50 years): “There no need to be ashamed, because it’s curious how everything was used and promoted. The traditional dress has become even more beautiful.”
On a more ethnographic note, Fátima, who spent his childhood in Nazaré, still remembers “the silverware they served tea in on the beach and the ladies who changed three times a day.” Ethnographic in their own way, João Pedro and Nuno refer to “the importance of national identity in our projects, even when they are approached in a more picturesque way.”
After a great sliced octopus with olive oil and garlic, it’s all eyes on the grilled lobsters which arrive on board a boat. But is the salted sea bass an allusion to the Old Testament? Nuno remembers that the crust of the fish resembles the parable about Lot’s wife who, when Sodom was being destroyed, was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back. “It looks like one of my pieces,” countered João Pedro. Dinner ends sweetly with pão-de-ló de Alfeizerão sponge cake with chocolate from Obidos and cherry from Alcobaça.
On the crest of the wave
The following morning is spent on the doorstep of the apple of Manuel Limpinho’s eye, the Fishermen’s Museum. Along the way, we visit the Casa dos Escoceses, where the duo of artists bought several pieces for the project 7 Calças. We almost buy a couple more.
Manuel Limpinho Águeda has plenty of yarns to unravel. All around him are nets and more nets and a collection of 80 reproductions of boats, “the boats are an obsession.” The house, which is bursting at the seams, reproduces the typical fisherman’s house of the 1930 and 1940s, where both the art of fishing and the fishermen themselves cohabited. “Did you know that in the old days fisherman would only eat wheat bread on the day of the Ascension? The rest of the year their lunch was soup at home and then they went to the local tavern with a piece of corn bread with dried fish to have with a litre of wine.” That’s what his father used to do, a man who borrowed the newspaper O Século to read the news to the other fishermen.
The importance of this former fisherman is not lost on his fellow Nazarenos and Marina Freire, owner of Restaurante Maria do Mar says: “Senhor Limpinho is a true gentleman, a wonderful man.” Wonders, in the plural, are the treats laid before us on the table. The Orlipa prawns are the winning starters, but it’s the Sequinho de Raia, a fish stew with dried potatoes that is everyone’s favourite. Marina and her daughters, Orlanda and Filipa, who are paid homage in the prawn dish we had for starters, are the true representation of the matriarchal society. The mother is the maitre’D of the dining room and the daughters are in charge of the kitchen. The only male presence is Marina’s brother, Mário José, who brings the restaurant the fish caught in the boat named Maria do Mar, their mother’s name, which inspired both the boat and the restaurant.
During the time we spend here, everyone is talking about Garrett McNamara’s achievement: the Hawaiian came to Portugal and managed to surf a 30-metre tidal wave at Nazaré’s Praia do Norte. Strangely enough, the feat is no surprise to the locals, whose everyday life is spent overcoming the tides. The largest underwater canyon in Europe, known as Canhão da Nazaré (which causes these giant waves) is an old acquaintance that is a constant presence on the maps drawn by fishermen. The fact that the wave has become a media phenomenon gives them some hope for the future. Coming to see it offers visitors the chance to enjoy the Sequinho de Raia at the Maria do Mar restaurant, the fish stew at Pires or the salted fish at the Mar Bravo and discover the thousand stories we stumble upon along the way, which is what happened to João Pedro Vale and Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, who take enough raw material with them for a handful of new projects about Nazaré’s Portuguese waters.
by Maria João Veloso
