For you to lead the way can mean only to climb and descend the hill in multiple steps, smiling. Greet the joy itself if you pass by, leaning your head in reverence. Sometimes you have to be careful, because it can be masked as faith. Others, still, it comes loose as a child, disguised with artifacts and folklore. Clear your mind and follow, let the sounds of bass drums come into your head and keep smiling. That’s all you have to do in a parade or in a procession.

The days that pass through the “romarias” are the wonderful days of smile. If one could envision all Minho’s life on a single place, that place would be a tent. After eating large and drinking an expresso, to talk about the cattle, about the other festivals, about the wine and suddently reflect about the next day’s lunch and tell dirty jokes to others, while the wife, an accomplice, bursts out laughing loudly.