Festa dos Tabuleiros, Tomar, central Portugal

Useful Information

Accommodation in Tomar

Holiday Lets in Tomar

Other Festivals in Portugal

Photo Gallery

Festa dos Tabuleiros 2011

2011 Festa Photos

'Opening of the Streets' 2007

Festa dos Tabuleiros

2007 Festa dos Tabuleiros

Photographs

The Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays) is held every four years in early July in Tomar. The most recent festival, held in the July 2011, hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world.

The Festa dos Tabuleiros, which can be dated back to the 16th Century and the Cult of the Holy Spirit, is usually a five day affair, though on some occasions can span two weeks. The festival takes four years of preparation with all of the community joining forces to create a spectacle not to be missed.

The Festa dos Tabuleiros is one of the largest festivals of its kind in Portugal and if you wish to attend the next one it's advisable to book your hotel, guest house or holiday cottage as early as possible, as closer to the event as accommodation in and around Tomar can be hard to find.

Heraldic flags line just about every street of Tomar and shop windows pay homage to the event with brightly coloured themed displays. The whole event has an air of excitement with music, dancing and fireworks throughout.


The opening of the Festa dos Tabuleiros begins with a lively parade of bands, horsemen, council and parish dignitaries carrying a crown symbolising their district and leading ceremonial cows through the town. Following on from the parade in the evening of the first day is the culmination of months of hard work from small committees of residents of the historic centre. Up to a year before the Festa dos Tabuleiros residents and shop owners designate a theme and colour scheme to decorate their street or Rua. These designs are a closely guarded secret and only after a judging panel has delivered their verdict and awards for the most colourful and originally dressed street are they open to the public. The 'Opening of the Streets' is the culmination of months of hard work from communities, who have spent countless hours making paper roses which are strewn from building to building and line the paths and roads. Hand painted ceramic plaques denoting street winners are proudly displayed following the event and they remain in place even after the Festa dos Tabuleiros is over.


Though there are events on throughout the week, it is the final day of the Festa dos Tabuleiros which attracts the most amount of visitors to see the procession, which winds it way through the narrow, cobbled streets of the historic centre, across the old and new bridges which straddle the *Rio Nabão, into the new town and back. The procession of the trays consists of four hundred or so young women wearing white with red silk sashes, each escorted by a young man wearing a white shirt, red tie and black trousers. Each woman balances a tray, which has 30 loaves threaded on vertical canes, intertwined with leaves and colourful paper flowers and crowned with a white dove – the symbol of the Holy Spirit on her head. The resulting headdress weighs in the region of 15kg. The young women are are invited to represent each village and district of Tomar* by their respective village or district. To be invited is a great honour and the young women take the role very seriously, practising the route with a replica tray for months prior to the event. Although their male consorts are there to help, handing over the tray is considered to be dishonourable. However it takes a huge amount of strength and stamina to complete the procession with the weighty tray atop their heads as the temperature on the day can be in excess of 30 degrees. The procession, which also sees the *President* and Prime Minister attend, can take up to four hours to complete. In the intervening four years headdresses are one display in various locations, including cafes and the Tourist information office, throughout *Tomar. In the lead up to the Festa dos Tabuleiros* you can, on some evenings catch glimpses of girls practising the route, accompanied by proud parents and friends on hand to steady the weighty 'tray' atop her head. The next festival is expected to be held in 2014 though details and dates have not as yet been released. If you would like to attend the next Festa dos Tabuleiros you can keep checking in gekkoportugal.com for details or alternatively check out the organisers website at www.tabuleiros.org, though this is at present only in Portuguese.

Date of Next Festa dos Tabuleiros

July 2015