Life in Gois The blog October

Life in Góis

December 21st
Today is the winter solstice, but it does not exactly feel as if we have lost the sun – quite the reverse! Today the sun has been shining down on us since dawn, in a cloudless blue sky, and as we were out in the garden the temperature was in the mid-teens. Not that we have not had our share of ice and frost this past couple of weeks, but mostly it has melted away by mid-morning. Sometimes the temperature can vary by 20 degrees over the course of a day, and starting the day in hat, scarf and heavy coat, you can find yourself in a t-shirt by midday. It can be hard to remember that it is nearly Christmas when it is so warm, but the streets of Góis are decorated with festive lights, and school has broken up after a very long term ended with a wonderful concert and party for the children of the primary school. ‘Pai Natal’ put in an appearance with a sack-load of presents, and even the teachers got up to do a turn on stage as wannabe rock-stars! In our home we like to celebrate the solstice as well as Christmas, and we have laid out our ‘Solstice Spiral’ from cork-oak branches, in the woods beside our house. When it is dark, we walk the spiral to light our candles from the big candle at the centre, to symbolise the sun in the spiralling galaxy, and the light and hope that it gives. Candles were also lit in Góis at the end of November, in a ceremony to mark the town’s participation in support of Amnesty International’s ‘Towns Against the Death Penalty’ initiative. The Scouts turned out along with local inhabitants and members of the Câmara to place candles on the town’s Monument of Solidarity, in a simple act of remembrance of the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody the very warmest greetings of the season.

Unlocking the history of the Góis region

Updated 14 June, 2010