Halloween (or dia das bruxas) is becoming more and more of a big deal in Portugal. Throughout the country, but especially in Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve, you’ll see posters (or Facebook events) for Halloween parties and, depending on where you live, you may even get a trick-or-treater as well. This is obviously America’s cultural dominance on the rest of the world.
Or is it? Although the Halloween parties on October 31st feel new, Portugal has a lot of Halloween-related traditions that are not dissimilar to those that we associate with the English-speaking world.
In some parts of Portugal, children going door to door asking for bread (Pão-por-Deus). This concept has quite a few different names including Dia do Bolinho, santorinho, bolinho, or fiéis de Deus, and it’s remarkably similar to trick-or-treating.
Children knock on their relatives’ doors and recite verses like:
Ó tia, dá Pão-por-Deus? Se o não tem Dê-lho Deus!
Pão por Deus, Fiel de Deus, Bolinho no saco, Andai com Deus.
In return for reciting the verses, they’re given chestnuts, cakes, sweets, pomegranates, nuts, and bread. Some people even bake special walnut and dried fruit biscuits for the children as well.
Or, if the relatives are in a fun mood, they might make up an excuse for why they have nothing to give.
Olha foram-me os ratos ao pote e não me deixaram farelo nem farelote.
(Basically: Sorry! The rats ate all my food)
As we all know, children don’t accept excuses when sweets are involved. Child-like threats are issued until the sweets are handed over. All of this sounds a lot like trick-or-treating, doesn’t it?
Trick or treat, smell my feet give me something good to eat.
If you don’t, I don’t care. I’ll pull down your underwear!
Pumpkin carving, like trick-or-treating, is also a well-established tradition in parts of Portugal like the Beira region. Here, pumpkins are called coca or coco: named after the mythical monster with the same name.
Then there are the pagan-style festivals like Festa da Cabra e do Canhoto in Cidões, a Samhain-style festival, which highlights Portugal’s Celtic connections and where a lot of these familiar traditions probably stem from.
Of course, those traditions aren’t widespread across Portugal. You can find them, but you’ll have to go to specific regions to do so. Otherwise, the main Halloween activity in Portugal tends to be the annual cemetery-cleaning that takes place on November 1st.
On November 1st, the day of Saints and Martyrs, everyone heads to the cemetery to spruce up their late relatives’ graves. The bleach comes out, chrysanthemums are bought, and prayers are said with services taking place both in the day and by candlelight in the evening.
It’s a big event, and you’ll often find flower vendors, chestnut sellers, and other fast food hawkers outside of the cemeteries. It’s something that’s typically Portuguese and, as such, it’s worth walking past to see how Portugal celebrates Halloween.
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