CYNTHIA ADINA KIRKWOOD

Since she was six years old, Ana Martins,16, has chosen the elective of Mirandese, studying it since Year 1 in school. She talks with older villagers in Malhadas, Miranda do Douro, in January 2019. (Photo by José Coelho/ Lusa) . When Portugal recognized Mirandese as a second language, "the people began to lose their shame and started speaking with pride", said Júlio Meirinhos who, as a deputy of the Assembleia da República, was the first person to speak the centuries-old lang

This filigree dress, which was exhibited in the Portugal pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka and Expo 2020 in Dubai, is on display at the Filigree Museum in Gondomar. This unique handcrafted piece took 2,040 hours of work. The bodice is made of several pieces of filigree. On the skirt is the embroidery of three Portuguese caravels, the sails of which also are made of filigree. The dress was a collaboration between master filigree artisan, Arlindo Moura, of Gondomar, and the stylis

Street vending of turkeys during the Christmas season, Lisbon (From @ Arquivo de Municipal de Lisboa/ Photo from the collection of Paulo Guedes) "An unusual image from a time (decade of 1910 or 1920?) when turkeys, served on the Christmas menu of the more fortunate, arrived in the city still alive, coming from the countryside. Bred on the outskirts of Lisbon, they were led by vendors through the streets of the capital, in flocks, until they found a buyer." A Childhood Christm

The median age of the population in Portugal was 47.3 years in 2024, reported the National Institute of Statistics (Photo from INE) On the U.N.'s International Migrants Day, Portuguese media took stock of the country's politically fraught situation with sobering facts and figures. Although, at the same time, the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, said that, for years, immigration data was

Judges at the 19th century Ratton Palace, in Lisbon, which housed the Constitutional Court after the State acquired it in 1982 (Photo by Gerardo Santos) The Constitutional Court affirmed the unconstitutionality of four provisions, three unanimously, of the Nationality Bill , which cites stricter rules and longer deadlines for applying for Portuguese citizenship. One of the rejected provisions of the bill resets all pending nationality applications at the time of the law

(Photo from Education at a Glance 2025: Portugal  (September 9), Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD) One-fourth of Portuguese second-year students read a maximum of 51 words correctly per minute compared to an adequate international benchmark of 70 to 130 words, presenting increased risks of future reading comprehension difficulties. In a national survey of more than 90,000 public and private school students, the results show that students had an average pala

(Photo by José Sena Goulão/ Lusa ) One of the most acclaimed voices in contemporary Portuguese literature, author of novels, short stories, essays, poetry and chronicles, Lídia Jorge, 79, is the winner of this year's Pessoa Prize, reported Expresso (December 11). Named after celebrated writer Fernando Pessoa , the prize was founded by journalist Francisco Pinto Balsemão in 1987. It is an initiative of Expresso newspaper and Caixa Geral de Depósitos bank. Worth 70,000 euros

(From Mimosa website) Seven out of 10 Portuguese, in what is considered the first scientific survey of emotions in the country, say that affection is not being fully expressed in the family, reported Renascença (November 21). "It's not an absence of feelings, but of tools. The Portuguese express themselves more in discreet gestures. It's as if affection needs a mask to circulate without discomfort," said Joana Barbosa, one of the survey's authors and partner at the consultanc

"The fountain water is crazy. Look what it is saying -- that it kissed your mouth when you went there to drink," wrote José Garcês, in História de Oliveira do Hospital: Povo Valoroso, Passado Heróico (2001). At the end of the 19th century, numerous alder trees, probably some as tall as 25 meters (82 feet), created a shaded tryst of bliss around what was popularly known as the Fonte dos Amores (Fountain of Lovers ) in Oliveira do Hospital, Coimbra District. In 1895, during a

Lifthium Energy plans to establish a lithium hydroxide production research and development unit at Coimbra iParque in Antanhol, Coimbra Municipality. (Photo from the Vamos, Coimbra Facebook group, December 23, 2024) Lifthium Energy's proposal for environmental licensing of a lithium hydroxide research facility in Coimbra iParque in Antanhol, a science and technology park in Coimbra Municipality, is open to public consultation until December 18. Lifthium plans to b

L'Exode (The Exodus) ( fabric and paper, color screen printing) (1968) (@ Maria Helena Vieira da Silva) Maria Helena Vieira da Silva revolutionized the way of representing space on canvas. Drawn from memory and imagination, her works evoke urban landscapes and interior architectural spaces. She merged abstraction and figuration, blurring the boundaries between reality and ideas, according to Guggenheim Bilbao . "During her lifetime, Vieira da Silva (1908-199

“At present, CALB has set up several industrial bases to build industrial clusters in the Yangtze River Delta, Southwest, Central and the Greater Bay Area to achieve a full range of domestic industrial layout, and make overseas industrial layout to become a leading global enterprise!” according to the firm’s website. (Photo from CALB's website) China Aviation Lithium Battery Technology (CALB) is seeking Portuguese companies for involvement in its €2 billion manufacturing c

Kariba has spent 40 years in European zoos. Born in Zimbabwe, her family was lost to an ivory cull in the mid-1980s. She was sent to a zoo in Germany. In 2012, she was moved to Pakawi Park in Belgium, where she found companionship with Jenny, who was retired from circus life. When Jenny died in 2022, Kariba was left alone again. Now, Pangea plans for her to become the first elephant at its sanctuary in Alentejo, Portugal, next year. (Photo by Pakawi Park) In t

A Portuguese Inquisition public sentencing, auto-da-fe, in Lisbon (The National Library of Israel) For eight years, the Portuguese Brazilian psychoanalyst has lived in Portugal with her husband, who is a Portuguese citizen, and with whom they have a daughter born in the country. She could apply for nationality through several channels but wanted to do so only through one. "I want to apply for Portuguese nationality because I am a descendant of Sephardic Jews

Photo of author picking olives in the rain (Photo by Cynthia Adina Kirkwood) Such a pleasure to pick olives in a harvest, where accountability is in the crop itself. Plump and healthy fruit promises to yield delicious oil. There are the riper black and sepia olives, deep reds, many with variegated colors, and the younger pale green ones, which give a peppery taste to the oil. In Oliveira do Hospital Municipality, standing under the silvery green leaves of a tree, it seems li

Descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews would lose easier access to becoming Portuguese citizens as reparations for the Portuguese Inquisition in which the sentencing, the auto-da-fe, was pronounced in public session, cloaked in solemnity, in places where a great number of the public could be present, such as town squares. A sermon preceded the reading of the sentence, followed by a procession of great circumstance, leading to the place of execution of the sentence. In Coimb

Jamal Galves feeding a rescued manatee calf (Photo from Clearwater Marine Aquarium) Wherever he goes, Jamal Galves said that he carries his country, Belize, and his people. He was true to his word when he ascended a London stage to accept an award for his more than two decades championing the endangered and gentle Greater Caribbean Manatee, of which Belize is home to its last stronghold. "It is not just about the award. It's about the opportunity and the platform that it cre

Francisco Pinto Balsemão with stacks of sections of the weekly, Expresso , which he founded in 1973. (Photo by Alberto Frias) When I heard the news of the death of Francisco Pinto Balsemão, I was having breakfast today while listening to RTP Antena 2 on the radio. He died on October 21 at age 88. Such sad news. I never met Francisco Pinto Balsemão. However, I feel that the journalist comes into my home every Friday with the latest edition of his Expresso . As an

Amended Foreigners' Law restricts family reunification (Photo from Pixabay ) After two weeks of speculation following Parliament's approval of an amended Lei de Estrangeiros (Foreigners' Law) , President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa signed the immigration-tightening bill which marks a departure from Portugal's immigration policy. "For a long time, the parliamentary majority -- and theoretically the country's majority -- was on a certain wave. That wav

(Photo from Foundation for Fresh Produce) Vai à mercearia e compra ameixa seca. P´ra o intestino a ameixa é levada de breca! O mal do Ocidente -- quem há que não o sinta? -- é não ter a tripa sempre limpa. Com seus altos valores, o Ocidente dá demais ao dente, dá por demais ao dente. Põe-me os olhos nos povos que só comem arroz: dão melhores guerrilheiros do que nós. Um saquitel de arroz, uma biciclet´, arma na bandoleira -- e lá vai o viet. "Noss povo", ao contrario, come o