Spiritual Practice and History of Madeira

Every year on January 6th in Madeira, we celebrate “Dia de Reis” (English: “King’s Day”). According to tradition, it’s to celebrate the day when the newborn baby Jesus, the Saviour, the Messiah, receives the visit of the 3 Wise Men from the East.

The night before, Madeiran families usually gather together with friends and neighbours, who go out and sing traditional songs door to door.

“Bolo Rei” (English: “King Cake”) is a traditional Portuguese cake that is usually eaten around Christmas, from December 25th until Epiphany, on the 6th January. The cake itself is round with a large hole in the centre, resembling a crown covered with crystallized and dried fruit. It is baked from a soft, white dough, and in some of these cakes there is the characteristic dried “fava” (broad) bean or small Wise Man figurine. Tradition dictates that whoever finds the fava bean or the Wise Man figurine, must pay for next year’s cake!

A Christmas tradition of Madeira, the Missas do Parto (Masses of the expected birth) occur at various churches around the island from the 16th to the 24th of December, usually between 6.00 to 7 am. After the Masses the locals provide refreshments (cocoa, home made licquores, biscuits, chicken soup, etc.) in the surrounds of the church. Groups of singers form and play typical instruments such as the rajão and braguinha (four string mini guitars), the castanholas (castanets), the pandeiro (tamborine) , the gaita(bagpipes) and the accordion.

In recent years this tradition has revived and many people attend the masses.
Missas do Parto around Madeira
Missas do Parto in the Funchal area

Sister Mary Jane Wilson, also known as Maria of Saint Francis, was an English woman who was born in India on 3rd of October 1840, and who died in Madeira, aged 76, on the 18th October 1916. She was declared Venerable on 9th October 2013 by Pope Francis. When she was 40 years old, she moved to Madeira to nurse an English woman. She settled in Funchal and lived the rest of her life in Madeira. In 1884 she co-founded, together with Amélia Amaro de Sá, the religious order of the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Victory (Irmãs Franciscanas de Nossa Senhora das Vitórias). In 1907 she nursed patients throughout a smallpox epidemic on the island, and was awarded the honour of “Tower and Sword” (Torre e Espada). She dedicated her life to caring for children, founding an orphanage (Orfandade de Santa Isabel), and caring for the sick. The revolution of October 1910 forced her to leave Madeira, but she returned a year later. There is a small museum in Funchal dedicated to her life and work; two sculptures of her: one by Largo Severiano Ferraz (by the roundabout in front of the Red Cross), and another in the municipal gardens in Santa Cruz; and a book on her life («The invincible Victorian, the life of Mary Jane Wilson» by Terry Dunphy) published by the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Victories.

This week we are starting a new category in the blog section of our web site – “Religious Traditions of Madeira”. We will start with an article about the “Festa de Nossa Senhora de Piedade” which takes place on the third weekend of every September, which I took part in the for the first time this weekend (17th – 18th September).

On the Saturday of the feast, the fishing boats proceed in flotilla from the harbour in Caniçal to fetch the statue of Our Lady which resides in the Capela da Senhora da Piedade located on Monte Gordo. This chapel is found some kilometres away from the fishing village of Caniçal. The fishing boats are open to the public free of charge, and hordes of people clamber on to the boats in great spirits to take part in the festivities. The boats are decorated with palms and rosettes, with the lead boat, which is to carry the statue back, more highly decorated than the rest. My friends and I were lucky to get into one of the boats which was not quite so full as some of the others which had standing room only. I must say the excursion is not for the faint hearted!

After some time chugging around the harbour in Caniçal we proceeded on our way to the Quinta de Lourdes. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the sea was very calm. When we reached Quinta de Lourde, all the boats apart from the lead boat proceeded towards the São Lourenço point of the island and then anchored. Sandwiches and cool drinks were handed out free of charge. On some of the boats rope ladders were let down into the sea and people proceeded to dive in. On our boat one lad dived into the sea while the boat was still on the move and was hauled back in when he had finished! The whole event is marked by a happy go lucky attitude rather than strict attention to regulations, although the marine police were actively patrolling on speed boats, in case anyone got into difficulties.

With the statue of Our Lady safely on board we all then proceeded back to Caniçal. The whole excursion lasted about four hours. The statue is taken to the church in Caniçal where it resides overnight and is then taken on the next day back to the Chapel of Senhora de Piedade by sea once again.

This popular feast, and indeed the building of the chapel of Senhora de Piedade , is said to have its origens in a storm at sea when the fishermen at sea, who had been praying to our Lady, decided to build the chapel in thanks for their safe deliverance. According the the historian João Adriano Riberio (author ot the work “Excursions in Madeira (1891)) until the 19th century the procession took place by land and after which the marine procession became popular.