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Glossary
Glossary of Portuguese crafts
Rare words for rare things. Techniques, materials, objects and flavours of Portuguese tradition, explained simply and linked to the people who still make them.
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Barcelos figurines
Figurado de Barcelos is the tradition of hand-modelling fired and painted clay figures in the municipality of Barcelos, in Minho, Portugal. Roosters, saints, musicians, scenes of daily life and fantastic...
ReadBitter honey (mel amargo)
Mel amargo (bitter honey) is the popular name for strawberry tree honey, made by bees from the flowers of the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), which bloom in autumn and winter....
ReadBunho
Bunho is a giant wetland rush, also called erva-de-esteira (mat grass), with round, smooth, leafless stems that can reach three metres. Harvested green in summer and dried in the sun,...
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Cantarinha dos namorados
Cantarinha dos namorados (lovers’ jar) is a traditional pottery piece from Guimarães, Portugal, in red clay, shaped like a small stacked water jug with a lid and decorated with raised...
ReadCobertor de papa
Cobertor de papa is a traditional blanket from Guarda, Portugal, woven by hand on a wooden loom from churra sheep wool. It is thick, heavy, warm and almost waterproof, with...
ReadCopper cataplana
Cataplana is a traditional cooking vessel from the Algarve, made of copper, with two concave halves joined by a hinge that close like a clam shell. When closed, it traps...
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Mafarrico
Mafarrico is a Portuguese folk word meaning devil and, by extension, an impish person or a mischievous child who is always up to something. Its etymology is considered obscure. In...
ReadManta lobeira
Manta lobeira is one of the traditional variants of the cobertor de papa from Guarda, woven in churra wool with white, brown, green, red and yellow stripes. Also known as...
ReadMead (hidromel)
Hidromel (mead) is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey diluted in water, with most of its sugars coming from the honey. It is considered one of the oldest fermented...
ReadMedronho
Aguardente de medronho, or simply medronho, is a spirit made by fermenting and distilling the fruit of the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), a shrub of the hills of southern Portugal....
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Palma
Palma is the leaf of the dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis), a low palm that grows wild in the dry scrubland of southern Portugal. In the Algarve it is dried, cut...
ReadPorta da Loja apple
Porta da Loja apple (maçã Porta da Loja) is a traditional apple variety from northern Portugal, linked to the Monastery of Tibães, in Braga. It has yellow skin heavily streaked...
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Sarronco
Sarronco is a mythical figure from Minho, in northern Portugal, the local name for the bogeyman: a shapeless, frightening being that adults invoked to scare misbehaving children. In Barcelos, the...
ReadSoenga
Soenga is the ancestral pit firing technique used in Gondar, in the municipality of Amarante, to make black pottery. The pieces are fired in an open fire dug into the...
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Vinho dos Mortos
Vinho dos Mortos (Wine of the Dead) is a wine from Boticas, in Trás-os-Montes, Portugal, that ages in bottles buried under a layer of earth. The tradition began in 1809,...
ReadViola braguesa
Viola braguesa is a traditional Portuguese guitar from Minho, with ten strings grouped in five double courses and usually a soundhole shaped like a ray fish (boca de raia). Strummed...
ReadViola campaniça
Viola campaniça is a traditional Portuguese guitar from Lower Alentejo, with five courses of strings and a strongly waisted, figure-of-eight body. About one metre long, it is mostly played fingerstyle...
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Glossary of Portuguese crafts
