Festas do Colete Encarnado

At the turn of June and July, Vila Franca de Xira dresses in red. The Festas do Colete Encarnado — the festival of the red waistcoat — honour the campino, the herdsman of the Tagus floodplain whose red vest and wide hat remain the emblem of the Lezíria, the wet grasslands that stretch along the river towards Salvaterra de Magos.

The red vest of the Lezíria

Campinos once moved the great herds through the marshy meadows of the river plain, and their working dress became the dress of the region’s identity. The festival, first held in 1932, was created to keep that figure alive: its centre is the parade and the public homage to the campinos, when the red waistcoasts ride through the town in line to the sound of the local brass.

Bulls in the streets

The liveliest hours belong to the bulls. In the largadas, animals are released into cordoned streets for the crowds to watch and follow — a running of the bulls in the Iberian tradition, distinct in shape from its Pamplona namesake — while the esperas hold bulls at bay in the squares. Concerts, religious ceremonies and street stages fill the days around them.

What to see

• The campino parade and homage in red waistcoasts
• The largadas — bulls released through the streets
• The esperas in the squares
• The concerts and street stages
• The riverside quarter of the town

Practical information

The festival takes place in Vila Franca de Xira on the east bank of the Tagus, about half an hour north of Lisbon, in late June and early July; the day-by-day programme changes each year, so check the official programme before going. Streets are crowded during the largadas, and the July sun on the riverside is strong — hats and water are sensible.

Image credit: Festa do Colete Encarnado by Munícipiovfxira — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.