This is what’s happening in my hometown “as we speak”. It’s called “Serenata Monumental” (monumental serenade). Students sing the tradicional Coimbra’s fado (different from the classical portuguese fado). It’s meant to be a “farewell present” to all the students that are finishing their graduations. It’s very emotional. Trust me, I was once one of those girls sitting on the church stairs, above that ocean of black capes. Queima das Fitas, Coimbra’s students annual party, is starting today. More that a week of fun, music, dancing and - let’s face it - inebriating amusement; Queima das Fitas gives us friends for life and some pretty embarrassing/comic/tender stories for our grandchildren.
Queima das Fitas (Coimbra’s students annual party)
May 2nd, 2008 by SR (Coimbra, Portugal) · 2 Comments
Tags: Arts & Culture · Education · History · Society · Travel
2 responses so far ↓
1 AH (London, UK) // May 6, 2008 at 1:40 pm
What a great tradition, ‘Mediterranean’ University life seems delightful in Coimbra.
This does remind me of the year I spent at a college in Northern Italy though(http://www.ghislieri.it/index.php), where I saw a different side of things I wasn’t so keen on. There were endless ‘initiations’ where first year boys had to march round the huge dining hall in their underwear with various humiliating things round their necks, where the cleaners made up the boys’ beds but left the girls to do their own, and where there were bizarre songs and rituals that maintained the ragingly patriarchal order in the name of ‘tradition’.
Come to think of it, that wasn’t too different to my own college after all… and I seem to remember I wasn’t so bothered about patriarchy at the time, I just thought the boys were hilarious and eccentric and terribly attractive…
2 Susana Ribeiro // May 6, 2008 at 1:46 pm
What an insightful comment!
Thanks, Alex.
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