page_title: Póvoa de Varzim Holiday
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Póvoa de Varzim Holiday / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Bairro Norte supporters, Saint Peter Festival, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
context_page_description: Póvoa de Varzim Holiday, Saint Peter Festivals or Saint Peter Night is celebrated annually on June 29, Saint Peter's Day in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal. It is a late midsummer festival and the last of the three Portuguese popular saints — Santos Populares. It is celebrated with the lighting of bonfires, dances, competitions between quarters and diverse parties. Saint Peter festival includes the "rusgas", in which inhabitants of one quarter visit in a parade other quarters in the evening of June 28. Women are dressed as tricana poveira. Each neighborhood has its own festival, neighborhood colors and altar to Saint Peter.
  Traditionally, people often eat grilled sardines with bread, caldo verde, and wine in the streets, with a bonfire nearby where people gather to celebrate. In the 21st century, younger population, although participating strongly in this festival, adopted new ways to celebrate it, such as the very popular Saint Peter raves in the waterfront, in Carvalhido and in Largo Caetano de Oliveira.
context_section_description: Saint Peter Festival was most popular before the 1892 shipwreck. The shipwreck had a significant impact in the community and the use of the Branqueta traditional garments was also affected, as the Branqueta was associated with festivities. The community saw no reasons for further celebrations. Before 1962, Saint Peter Festival was a minor festival, major midsummer celebrations occurred during St. John's day. The local municipal holiday was celebrated on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, the patron saint of Povoan Fishermen, but the local holiday became a national one.
  The town hall decided to change the local holiday. Two options were presented: Saint Peter Festival, honouring the fishermen's saint, given the fact Póvoa was a traditional fisher town and Anjo Festival, an Easter Monday celebration, a remnant of Pagan festivities and quite popular amongst the population. Due to the fact that Easter Monday was already observed as a national holiday in Portugal in the 1960s, the generalized view was that Saint Peter Festival should be the local holiday and that was confirmed by pools in local newspapers at the time.
  All the traditional midsummer elements were kept, such as the bonfire, the celebrations occur in the streets and competition between quarters started to occur, this was important as there was a traditional rivalry which started in the 19th century between Bairro Norte and Bairro Sul, two distinct fishermen quarters. And the rivalry between these quarters fueled the competition between different parts of the city, which organized themselves into distinct associations.
  In 2014, with the holiday falling on Saturday, the city received over half-million visitors in a single night, as Saint Peter Festival marks the end of the Santos Populares celebrations in Portugal. In 2015, it was transmitted live nationwide for the first time, by Porto Canal. In 2016, the channel  kept broadcasting the event. The main Portuguese public broadcaster, RTP 1 did the same in 2016 and 2017 as part of a full coverage of the popular saints festivals in Portugal, following similar broadcasts in Lisbon (Saint Anthony) and Porto (Saint John's).
caption: Supporters of Bairro Norte during the Rusgas competition in Varzim stadium.
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