Stories of Cabeceiras

The municipal guide of the villages highlights in Cunhas a nucleus of concentrated old houses and the manor of Teixeiras Pereiras. It is a reference to the architecture of the village, without indication of access to the interior of the building.

The same guide tells two legends: one associates the name of Cunhas to a soldier called Cunha de Pau, linked to the fight against the Moors; another says that Santa Senhorinha had house in the locality. They are narratives of popular memory. The publication does not present them as proven events nor allows to locate a house of the saint.

In the religious narrative studied by Odília Alves Gameiro, the coax of the frogs disturbed the nuns when they were preparing for a craft. Little lady would have stopped the noise. The municipality includes this episode among the miracles attributed to the saint. It is a history of devotional tradition, told to know the imaginary linked to their worship, without presenting it as an event demonstrated.

The legend published by the Museum makes the masons try to build the bridge in Vila Franca and then by the Poço das Laranjeiras. In both places, a supernatural voice sent up the river. Tradition attributed it to Saint Bartholomew.

On the third attempt, the narrative places the work next to the chapel. It is a story about the memory of the place, not documentary proof of the choice of the site or an itinerary to look for the episodes.

In another passage of the tradition collected by the Museum, the food of the builders gains a miraculous explanation: there are sources of water, wine and olive oil and fish appear in the river. The narrative associates the effort of construction to religious protection. Reading it alongside the history of the works allows to know two different ways of telling the same place.

In the visit to Gondiães January 2012, a stick marked the intervals between the sets of bread, ribs and popes at the tables. Each group then distributed these foods among the participants. Preparation brought together return residents and emigrants.

The piece of bread was called carolo. The account presents the protection of São Sebastião as a legend of origin, without documentation that fixes the beginning of the party.

Vila Seca is the former designation of Vilar de Cunhas remembered by the Municipality. The presentation gathers three villages: Vilar, Cunhas and Uz.

It also distinguishes plateau and mountain areas, associated with agriculture and pastoral care. A parish name can therefore cover different settlements and landscapes. The source does not date the change of designation.

The municipal presentation places this territory near Montalegre and Ribeira de Pena. This position helps to understand a landscape that continues beyond the administrative limit: the villages belong to the municipality, but the valleys and relations between places invite also to look at the neighboring territories.

The municipal guide presents Cambezes through archaeological remains, legends and a life marked by mutual help. It highlights collaboration in tasks and shepherding instead.

This memory invites you to look at the village beyond the houses: also the relationships between people are part of the heritage. The source does not describe the scale of pastors nor confirms a current calendar.

The turner highlights a way to organize shepherding among inhabitants. To understand how it worked in Cambezes, it would be interesting to know the rules, the participation of houses and changes over time. The guide does not provide these details. The collaboration mentioned is a starting point to collect memory, not a ready scale of tasks.

Compare this story with the water shifts of Levada de Víbora: both speak of collective organization, but only the leva survey describes eleven shifts of twenty-four hours. Transporting this rule to Cambezes' flock would invent a similarity that sources do not demonstrate.