TOCO DE SÃO FRANCISCO (“SAINT FRANCIS STUMP”)
An initiation and cooperation ritual
Audiovisual installation
Thursday, October 3RD, 8:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Linen Museum of Várzea de Calde
Civil Parish of Calde, Municipality of Viseu (PT)
The Linen Museum of Várzea de Calde, joins the popular celebration of “Queima do Toco” (“the stump burning”), on the 3rd of October, which will take place at São Francisco square, between 8:30 pm and 11:00 pm. For this purpose, and exceptionally, the museum will be open and Binaural Nodar will have available to visitors the result of audiovisual collections carried out last year on that same tradition, in the form of an audiovisual installation entitled “Toco de São Francisco: Um ritual initiation and cooperation” (“Saint Francis Stump: An initiation and cooperation ritual”).
“Queima do Toco” is celebrated in honor of Saint Francis, patron saint of the village of Várzea de Calde (Parish Council of Calde, Municipality of Viseu), consisting of the pulling of an ox cart laden with logs that, according to the tradition, should be stolen in the forest by young and unmarried men. The logs, or stumps, will then be used to start a huge fire at S. Francisco square. This tradition is repeated every year and the same ox cart is always used to load the logs.
This activity is part of the Viseu Rural 2.0 project, co-financed by the Viseu Cultura Program of the Municipality of Viseu.