November of the Magusto

The magusto is Portugal’s chestnut festival. It happens in autumn, above all on 11 November, Saint Martin’s Day, and gathers families, neighbours or schools around a bonfire where chestnuts roast slowly.

Legend has it that Martin, a Roman soldier, cut his cloak in half to give it to a freezing beggar, and that the sun came out at that very moment. That is why the mild days of November are called Saint Martin’s Summer.

With the chestnuts comes the new wine, água-pé or jeropiga, and the habit of smudging faces with ash from the fire. In the north and inland, the magusto is still held outdoors. In the cities, it fits in a clay roaster on the stove.

November opens with All Saints’ Day on the 1st, when children go door to door asking for Pão-por-Deus. It is also the month when the smokehouse fills up and the table calls for clay and fire.