And here we are again, heading towards the “Festa”. After the imported euphoria of Halloween and our almost forgotten “Pão por Deus”, here we are again, heading towards those magical days that Madeirans celebrate like no others.
The lightings appear already woven into the trees and the shop windows, both in malls and in the traditional commerce, show the items we buy because we think we need them even though w don’t even have the space to put away those we gathered through the years.
We are quickly heading towards the December 8th holiday, when everything “stops” in the island, to be restarted on January 6th or, in some cases, after Santo Amaro.
In a few days we’ll find no more molasses in the supermarkets. Because everyone will be baking cakes and biscuits, and the essences will disappear from the chemists because everyone will be making liqueurs, just to improve on last year’s recipe.
In a few days there’ll be those that spend what they have and what they haven’t to acquire all the goods that will be sold at half price in January, and those that venture into the mountains to seek out the greenery to decorate the Nativity scenes.
There will be those who kept the last remnants of the year’s holidays for this season. There are no longer mailed Christmas cards, but there’ll be heaps of emails, messages on the social networks and wishes for the New Year.
And in two months it will all be over. The fireworks will have exploded, and the lights will be shut after thousands of visitors have seen them.
Regardless, it’s coming, and we like no others know how to live and how to show it. After all, Christmas is our “Festa”!