7 objects with history between Castro Laboreiro and Melgaço

From the plateau at an altitude of 1,200 metres to the River Minho valley, this is a surprising territory with much to tell. Between Castro Laboreiro and Melgaço, we tell the story of seven objects that help us get to know Portugal’s northernmost municipality better.   From the megalithic necropolis to the cinema museum, from the Castro Laboreiro costume to the Melgaço castle, from the Alvarinho wine to smuggling, there are many stories that cross and the objects that symbolize them. We have chosen 7 objects that tell stories between Castro Laboreiro and Melgaço.

1. The “castrejo” costume

The traditional costume of the Castro woman is still worn by the elders of the remote mountain village of Melgaço. In Castro Laboreiro, when the cold weather sets in, they put the cape on their head and, always holding on to their staff, they become black spots in the fields of the plateau or in the slopes of the Peneda Mountain.

The Castrejo costume is warm, made of burel and sheep’s wool, that here is not bought or sold, only exchanged if there is too much. When new or on festive days, they allow a touch of colour to the heavy black they carry every day. The shirt can then be a shade of wine or green, but always dark. The joy of colour is hidden and only those who wear it know they have it.

When their husbands emigrated, or when mourning took place, the women creased the black even more. Widows of the Living, the writer José Cardoso Pires called them and the name stuck.

The most peculiar piece are the shorts. This type of espadrilles is always white and made of thick sheep’s wool, having a double function: it protects from the cold, but also from the bush.

Maria Olinda Gonçalves explains the Castro costume to us. It is composed of three skirts. The white skirt – which is made of linen – the red petticoat “to give a bit of colour, the black skirt and the apron that we call here the Mandil”. The blouse is also black and the scarf of the same colour is tied with a knot on top, that this was an everyday garment. Finally, on rainy or very cold days, the women from Castro Laboreiro also wore a thick woollen cloak that kept the body dry.

2. The Castro Laboreiro dog

They are known as the blackmouths and the name has also passed to the inhabitants of the mountain village. The Castro Laboreiro dogs take their name from the land where they were born. This is one of the oldest breeds in the Iberian Peninsula and is also an identity mark of the people who live in the high mountain range of Peneda.

With its spotted coat, almost like camouflage, the Castro Laboreiro was fundamentally a shepherd dog and is today known as a guard dog. It is a large animal, but its honey-coloured eyes do not fool anyone. It may be a guard dog, but it is docile towards its owners and loves children.

This is Sara Esteves, the breeder who, along with her husband and children, managed to stop what seemed to be the extinction of the Castro Laboreiro and gave new life to this very special breed.

In the village, it’s common to come across these dogs on the streets. There is little point in calling them, as few of them accept the petting of strangers. This is one of their characteristics. “The Castro Laboreiro is always alert and reads people very well”.

As distinctive marks of the breed are the black roof of the mouth, the ears always drooping, the tail always down, the straight hips and those honey-coloured eyes that lose us. But the stories told in the evenings by the fireside in Castro Laboreiro – a village that is a unique case in the world – almost always involve wolves.

When he was a shepherd, Castro Laboreiro always wore a collar with nails to make the fight with the packs fairer. Mondego or Fiel were then some of the most common names, and there is always someone who remembers that dog that one day challenged the wolf. “Mondego was a very good dog, who could win a fight with one or two wolves, but his main concern was never to let the pack surround him”, remembers Filipe Sousa. This is also why the dog is one of the 7 objects with history between Castro Laboreiro and Melgaço.

3. The megalithic necropolis

The Castro Laboreiro plateau is a different place with its own energy. It is not surprising that the people who lived here between the 5th and 4th millennium BC chose this place to erect a series of funerary monuments.

The megalithic necropolis of the Castro Laboreiro plateau is the most important one in the Iberian Peninsula and has a total of over 80 monuments. Most of them are only visible after training your eyesight. They are the tumuli, which can be seen in the landscape as small elevations.

The tumuli covered the dolmens where the dead were buried of these people who lived by hunting and gathering. The excavations made made it possible to date the finds and also to uncover rock carvings, some with traces of ink.

This is the case of the monument 5 of Alto da Portela do Pau, where the zigzags carved in the rock can still be seen on the stone at the entrance of the dolmen.

4. The barge

Between Castro Laboreiro and Melgaço, there are many frontier stories. Stories of smuggling and emigration. Life was much tougher then, and one either risked one’s life daily by land borders, crossing the Minho River or jumping to France.

In the valley, the border was the river, and through the river, goods and people crossed at night, in risky operations that often ended badly, either because of the attention of the Guardia Civil or because of a stroke of the river.

Catarina Oliveira, sociologist at Melgaço City Hall, tells us these frontier stories and tells us about people who “intended to make a living and escape the crisis of the time”, but who did not always achieve their goal.

The barge is still part of the Minho River landscape, near Melgaço, but today it only allows access to the centenary fishing grounds.

5. The castle

If between Castro Laboreiro and Melgaço most of the objects with history tell people’s lives, there is one which helps to tell the country’s history.

The castle of Melgaço is as old as the country’s nationality, having been ordered built by D. Afonso Henriques as a way of affirming the new kingdom and it played an important role in its defence, namely during the reign of D. Afonso II.

Of the original castle only the keep and part of the old medieval town fence survive and today it is a museum centre where it is possible to understand the history of the municipality.

In the crisis of 1383-1385, the town of Melgaço sided with D. Beatriz against the claims of the Master of Aviz. Already proclaimed king by the people, D. João I laid siege to the town, which lasted 59 days. Fernão Lopes, the chronicler, tells of these days and speaks of the fight between two women of the people, which would give rise to the legend of Black Inês.

6. The Magic Lantern

Right by the castle, there is an excellent museum in Melgaço which tells the story of the prehistory of cinema.

The Jean Loup Passek Cinema Museum displays part of the estate of the French film critic who fell in love with the land and people of Castro Laboreiro and Melgaço and donated his entire collection to the municipality while he was still alive.

The pre-cinema is the jewel of the collection. In the building that now houses the museum, we can see a rare collection of magic lanterns that, at the end of the 19th century, excited Europeans with their moving images.

The museum has several Magic Lanterns on display, as well as the painted glass plates that allowed them to create the illusion of movement. This is truly a museum that should not be missed.

7. Alvarinho

It is impossible to write about Melgaço and not mention Alvarinho. This small and very sweet grape variety produces a very aromatic green wine, which is also more alcoholic and has become one of the trademarks of the Melgaço and Monção municipalities.

Professor Álvaro Campelo explains how Alvarinho became a wine which is the identity of this territory. In the beginning, he explains, it was produced in small quantities and kept for the festive occasions of the nobility of Riba Minho.

The reason was simple. This was a wine made from a grape produced in very small quantities on the trellises that bordered the agricultural fields on the hillsides between Castro Laboreiro and Melgaço. Only much later did it become the bet of producers and gain fame beyond our borders. Now, he claims, it will radically change the landscape.