The Band and the Oven

Story
Country
Portugal
Year
2019
Storyteller
Madalena Simões
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Overview

In my village, Avelar, Portugal, a community oven and a philharmonic band are tightly connected.

The Band and the Oven by Madalena Simões, 9th grade, Escola Básica nº 2 do Avelar The heritage of each village, region, or even each country is unique and that is what makes it unforgettable for visitors. Heritage can be material or immaterial. Each one of its parts is a fragment of its population, what they are made of, of their condition. That is why it is so important! It does not choose race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation: it just “binds the world” in a single place. Besides, it takes and invites us into a voyage of understanding where we can learn about cultures and customs, where all areas of knowledge coalesce and each moment can be memorable and perhaps take us making friends… The heritage of my village, Avelar, a small community in the Leiria region, Portugal, is a mix of material and immaterial components with no apparent relation but that are more connected than it would appear. I hope you will join me on this voyage and enjoy this endearing story where we will see that there can be an unexpected connection between a band and a community oven. Avelar is a nice pretty village where everybody knows everybody else and quality of life prevails. We can say that the most important “monument” in my village is the medieval oven. Lore has it that this was a place of miracles mainly during the celebration of Our Lady of Guia (Senhora da Guia), our Patron Saint. At the church square, atop a huge open space that was the old public meeting ground, we can see the big Oven, built on top of a large, possibly medieval, staircase. The oven is a domed hexagonal building with a clover cross on top of the dome flanked by two pyramidal pinnacles. According to legend, on the Senhora da Guia pilgrimage days a man, shod in sandals, holding between the teeth a carnation that had been picked from the Saint’s palanquin, would enter the hot oven carrying fresh cake dough in his hands. He would leave the oven unburnt thanks to divine protection. The cake being baked, the same man would enter the oven again to fetch it and divide it among the population. They believed this cake to be almost an amulet, as it would keep for years in their wooden arks and even protect from moths! Now for the immaterial heritage: music. Music is present in humankind’s life since the most remote times, bringing joy to the listeners but also to those who provide it! The Sociedade Filarmónica Avelarense (SFA – Avelar Philharmonic Society) is almost a second home for those who participate in it as myself. Here we create and strengthen friendships, learn from each other – including music, of course – but we also learn societal values, learn to respect and cherish each other, learn with our mistakes and with the elders. We learn trusting and laughing; we learn to be better persons! This institution has about sixty musicians and our conductor, José Maria Medeiros, once a band musician himself. We have a broad range of instruments, including flutes, piccolos, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, clarinets, tubas, trumpets, trombones, and of course percussion instruments. On November 7 we will be 104 years old but this does not make us less ambitious! The expansion of our headquarters building was approved by the authorities and our direction is committed to further extend the instrument range. This can only be accomplished by buying new instruments, an old yearning of the direction, the musicians, and their listeners. Now let’s go back to the 7th November 1915 the day of the foundation of the Tuna Avelarense (Avelar music group), precursor of the SFA. Tuna Avelarense was created by a group of men, including Father Manuel Mendes Rosa. Its formation intended to embellish local parties with string instruments (such as violins, violas, bass guitars, and mandolins). That idea was welcomed by the population and in 1920 the Tuna turned itself into the Philharmonic Society. Then it acquired 20 metal instruments that allowed performing on the streets in corteges and processions in Avelar and neighbouring villages, which had been impossible with wooden instruments. When the celebration of Our Lady of Guia is near, it is traditional that the band (musicians and direction) has their picture taken on the oven staircase. The photo is then framed and displayed on a mural in our headquarters, the Band and the Oven, immaterial and material heritage.

European Dimension

Heritage is important because it does not choose race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation: it just “binds the world” in a single place. At the Avelar Philharmonic Society we create and strengthen friendships, learn from each other – including music, of course – but we also learn societal values, learn to respect and cherish each other, learn with our mistakes and with the elders. We learn trusting and laughing; we learn to be better persons!