António Manuel d'Athouguia da Rocha Fontes

Music

Brass Bands at Catholic Liturgies

At the Pocariça Festival, local brass bands performed during religious liturgies in the 1950s, despite earlier church rules that prohibited such instruments in these settings.

Daily life

Improvised sugar pacifiers for infants

Mothers created improvised pacifiers for infants by tying sugar inside a small white cloth. These sugar dolls kept babies quiet while their older siblings and parents worked long hours in the fields.

What it cost

Cost of a pair of shoes

A pair of custom-made shoes from a shoemaker in Portimão cost 8 dollars and 50 cents, while factory-made shoes were about 10 dollars.

What people wore

Fishermen's wool hats served as pockets

Fishermen carried tobacco, rolling papers, and matches inside their black woolen barretes, which featured a long end hanging over the shoulder.

Getting around

Traveling from remote villages to the train

People in isolated regions like Vilarinho da Castanheira often traveled on foot or by donkey to reach train stations, a trip that could take three hours if everything went well.

At the table

Rise of urban snack bars and canteens

In cities, particularly from the 1950s onwards, snack bars became a common habit for workers and professionals, offering quick meals at modest prices. While some urban families maintained traditional home cooking, others increasingly relied on these new establishments or work canteens to save time.