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.

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!

From the 21st to the 23rd of July 2011 the Municipal Garden at Funchal is the stage for the "Raízes do Atlantico" (Atlantic Roots) Festival. Its first edition dates from 1994 and is now known as the oldest festival of world music in Portugal.

The Festival has created a connection between traditional music from Madeira, Portugal and World Music. This year's program holds different styles of music from Madeira, Azores, mainland Portugal, Italy and Guinea:

Thursday, the 21st of July 2011 at Jardim Municipal do Funchal

21h30 - Galandum Galundaina - A group from Miranda do Douro who combine their traditional melody with a modern sound by playing folk instruments like the Mirandese bagpipes or the castanets.

22h45 - Gattamolesta - This Italian group with a music style sometimes bizarre, privile the contact with the public and make the everyday street stories their own music.

Friday, the 22nd of July 2011 at Jardim Municipal do Funchal

21h30 - Projecto Griotizando - Angelo Torres and José Galissá aim to recreate the important character of social life and African culture: the Griot. To listen and travel through the word is what is proposed by this African duo who will tell a story by the rhythm of the Kora instrument.

22h45 - Gaitúlia - From the east tip of Madeira comes the Gaitúlia group which were created in 2007 in Machico. They ally the bagpipe to other percussion instruments. This will be their second performance on the Raízes do Atlantico Festival

Saturday, the 23rd of July 2011 at Jardim Municipal do Funchal

21h30 - O Experimentar nã m’incomoda - The challenge of this group is to reinvent the Azores' traditional music with a more cosmopolitan sound. This Azorean group plays their regional folklore through the dub, an
Animal Collective style.

22h45 - Banda d’Além - This group is already a reference in the traditional music of Madeira. On this festival the band will present their new album that, despite many news, will feature the usual sound of the
strings and percussion instruments and flutes.

In summer Madeira is always in festivity as there is often a parish celebrating its patron with a popular festivity known by "arraial" anywhere around the island. A typical Madeira arraial is always full of color and music with streets decorated with plastic flowers on the top and stoles to sell wine, "espetada", bolo do caco, sweets and candies.





One of the biggest "arraiais" in Madeira is the one on the eve of the 15th of August - the day of Nossa Senhora do Monte. As the name says, this popular and traditional festivity is held in Monte and every year it attracts thousands of people.

Despite all religious celebrations with processions and pilgrimages there is a whole environment of joyous feast on the surrounding roads of the church.

If you are thinking to visit Monte on Saturday evening enjoy the promotion on the cable car and do not worry about parking the car up there. On Saturday, the 14th of August 2010, from 6:00pm to 1:30am a return ride on the cable car to Monte will only cost you 7 euros with children between 7 and 14 years old paying only 50% of that price.

As we got a big audience for last year's Madeira 2009 fireworks show, despite the short notice, this year we will be transmitting the famous Madeira New Year's Fireworks show live, here on MadeiraHelp.com from an even better location, where one may see most of Funchal amphitheatre.

So keep your eyes on our home page for the first minutes of the new year 2010 and you will feel like you are in Funchal, admiring this amazing show.

UPDATE: Live broadcast statistics total viewers 18637, peak 1145 visitors. HD version