The Shepherds Festival

CHOCALHOS, is a festival of shepherds and pastoral music that takes place each year in the neighbouring village of Alpedrinha. The festival celebrates the ancient practice of Transhumance, a type of nomadism and a seasonal movement of animals between fixed summer and winter pastures. In mountain regions, it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower valleys in winter.

The weekend before autumn equinox was traditionally the time when the shepherds and their animals would return to the villages after a summer of grazing on the mountains. A tradition that very few shepherds still maintain.

One of the special moments of the festival is the walk along the Transhumance paths with the Shepherds and their animals. A journey that weaves through the old mountain villages, accompanied by the sounds of the rattles, drums and flutes.