Velho da Bugiada
Elder and patriarch of the Christian people, leader of the Bugios. The only figure to wear two masks across the day — cheerful in the morning, shaken by afternoon, at the hour of his capture.
Figures
Over 700 performers, nearly all from Sobrado. Each has a role — filter by group.
Bugios
The Christian formation: men, women and children of Sobrado, any age. They embody joy, excess and disorder in bright costumes. Around 600 take to the streets.
Child-Bugios
Since the 1950s, they appear at the Velho’s capture to wipe away his tears and embrace him. Their innocence moves everyone watching.
Reimoeiro
The Moorish King, leader of the Mourisqueiros. Bare-faced, stern and unyielding. By tradition a single man of Sobrado. He drives the refusal of the Saint and the capture of the Velho.
Mourisqueiros
About forty young, single men of Sobrado, ordered in pairs and ranks (Guias, Meios, Rabos). It takes seven years to reach Reimoeiro. Small in number, fiercely disciplined.
Caixa drum
The drum — and its player — that drives the Moorish dances. Its warlike beat must never stop or falter, or the whole Mouriscada is undone.
Bugiada musicians
The “Arroquesta” accompanying the Bugios with braguesa guitars, violins and fiddles, in old Portuguese folk dress.
Band of S. Martinho do Campo
The philharmonic band playing the Hymn of Saint John at the great moments: procession, Entrance Dance and the Velho’s capture. From the neighbouring parish, yet felt as Sobrado’s own.
The Serpe
A monstrous green figure with a red tongue, made by the Bugios to frighten the Moors and free the Velho. Here it is no symbol of evil, but of the Miracle of Saint John.
Doctors of Law
The mediating lawyers. Each side has one. When talks break down at the Bugios’ stage, the Reimoeiro’s assault follows.
The Messenger
A horseman who “runs the embassies” between the stages, carrying messages on plane-tree leaves skewered on his sword, seeking peace.
The Narrator
Tells and frames the Velho’s capture, by script or improvisation, to draw in and move the crowd.
Blind Man & Cobbler
Leads of the Blind Man’s Dance (Sapateirada): the wandering Blind Man and the Cobbler, in a comic duel over the abduction of the Wife (Fiadeira) by the Blind Man’s Boy.
Entrajadas (satire)
Comic social satire by Sobrado groups, on foot or on floats. Local, national and world themes that change every year.
Rights Collector
First figure of the Lavra da Praça: a Bugio riding a donkey backwards, “collecting” goods from the stalls, writing in a ledger with the animal’s tail for an inkwell.
Sower, Harrower & Plougher
The farming figures of the Lavra da Praça, in muddy rustic garb, re-enacting sowing, harrowing and ploughing in reverse — brushing up against the crowd as they go.