Madeira is known by its levada walks which are walks on a footpaths along a water channel. These footpaths were originally built for the maintenance of the levada but today they are mostly touristic and every tourist visiting Madeira has to walk on one to get his Madeira experience complete.

There has been some fatal accidents during levada walks and most of them could have been prevented, so we here present some safety guidelines for people walking on levadas:

• Walk only on the levadas recommended by the Madeira Tourism Board - the ones which at the beginning of it are marked with PR, have a board with information about its difficulty, distance, altitude, a map of the route and have signage along the path
• Check the weather forecasts and if there is strong wind or heavy rain do not go. If the weather conditions change suddenly during your walk ponder if it is safer to continue or to turn back through the same way
• Do not go alone on this walk, take at least 1 more person with you
• Ask local people if the levada or footpath is safe before you start your walk
• Always tell someone where you are going and at what time you intend to be back
• Take your mobile phone with you and remember the Emergency number is 112
• Take appropriate shoes and clothes and never forget a warm jumper
• Do not go out of the trail, even if it 'seems' safe for you to go outside it
• If there is a built obstacle closing the path it means it is not safe so turn back through the same way and never surpass the obstacle
• Do not run any risk

Christmas season in Madeira is only over after Santo Amaro's day, on the 15th January. On Santo Amaro's day is the day of "Varrer dos armários" (the cleaning of the shelves) which is a tradition in several parishes of Madeira. People visit friends and family with a broom and the hosts have a table full of the traditional delicacies of Christmas. So the visitants eat and drink and when leaving the house they leave a broom with the date and year carved on it.

So, until middle January there is still the opportunity to admire the Christmas scenes built all around the island and which will only be dismantled after Santo Amaro's day. A suggestion we leave here this year is to visit the Nuns Valley and its mega Christmas scene built by the Associação Refúgio da Freira.





On this amazing Christmas crib it is represented many of the Madeira traditions and customs. This walkable artwork is visitable everyday until the 22nd of January 2012, from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Following the success of the last three years, once again we will broadcast Madeira New Year Fireworks 2011-2012. Live broadcast will start at 23:55 GMT.

In Madeira tradition dictates that homes are decorated on the holiday of the 8th of December - day of Our Lady of Conception. Despite the Christmas tree it is typical to assemble the Christmas crib or, as we call in Madeira, "a Lapinha". Normally the Lapinha can be build in 2 different ways:

• the usual Christmas scene with the figures of Holy Mary, Baby Jesus, Joseph, the 3 wise men but then with many sheep, cows, donkeys, shepherds and children miniatures and some offerings as fruits of the season around.







• An altar where baby Jesus is on the top and his offerings placed around him

It is also common to decorate the Lapinha with searinhas which are crops of corn, wheat, lentil or lupine in small vases. Its seeds are usually soaked for 1 or 2 days and then are planted on the 8th of December so they are relatively grown on Christmas day. Some native plants to Madeira are also used such as the Climbing Butcher's Broom Semele androgyna - Alegra-campo in Portuguese, the Hare's Foot Fern Davallia canariensis - Cabrinhas and some other not native as the Lady Slipper Orchids Paphiopedilum sp..





Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy 2012!

For the 6th consecutive year Funchal is holding an International Film Festival in Baltazar Dias Theatre, from the 12th to the 19th of November 2011 and this time it will make a tribute to two important men in the universe of cinema: Terry Jones, a British known by his innovations in the comedy world and Roberto Farias, a Brazilian with many feature films produced and directed.

The Programme of the 6th Funchal International Film Festival is divided into the Films competition with several categories and with some special screennings:

Competitive Programme:

• International Competition for Feature Films
• International Competition for Short Films
• Premiere Madeira - competitive section for films produced in Madeira Island
• Naval Video Sub - special section for sea movies

Special Screennings:

• Opening Film
• International Year Comemorations
• Special Retrospective for the Faria's Family
• AnimArte - special programme for the young audience
• Homage
• Closing Ceremony

The schedules and titles of each film will be disclosed soon and you will easily get it in Baltazar Dias Theatre, downtown Funchal or at your hotel.