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PORTUGAL
Water Dogs, Our Lady of Fatima and Fado
By Jheri St. James
“Portugal has a rich seafaring past, superb beach
resorts, wistful towns and a landscape wreathed in olive
groves, vineyards and wheat fields. Littered with UNESCO
World Heritage sites and graced by one of Europe’s
most relaxed and attractive capitals, it also remains refreshingly
affordable,” says Lonely Planet World Guide.
This
rectangular shaped country along the western edge of the
Iberian peninsula, covers an area of 34, 340 sq. mi/88,941
km, and is bordered by Spain to the east
and north and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south. Portugal lies at
the point where the western ridge of the high Spanish plateau
slopes downward towards
the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the highest land lies in the northeast, gradually
giving way to undulating hills and low fertile plans. Three large rivers, all
rising in Spain, cross the country—the Douro, the Tagus and the Guadiana.
Lisbon is the capital city of this coastal country known for its mild climate.
During
the 14th century, Portugal was at the pinnacle of its power, with an empire
that included much of South America, Africa and South and Southeast
Asia. She
lost much of her wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755
earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars and the independence in
1822 of Brazil
as a colony. Following internal revolutions and six decades of repressive
governments, today Portugal is one of Europe’s poorer
countries, a rustic land of villages, small towns, agriculture—livestock,
olives, grapes, citrus, almonds wine and olive oil. Portugal
is the world’s major producer of
cork. The Romance language known as Portuguese is closely related to Spanish,
and almost everyone
in Portugal is Catholic.
*
* *
An
interesting animal in this area is the Portuguese water dog,
a web-footed dog capable of swimming great distances.
Portuguese fishermen have trained
and used the dogs to retrieve fish and nets from the water, and they
have also been
used to carry messages between ships. Males range from 20-23 inches (51-59
cm) tall and weigh between 42 and 60 lb. (19-27 kg), while females are
smaller.
*
* *
In
writing for Common Ground 191, it’s always helpful
to have inspiration. And Portugal certainly provides it.
Some of the most famous visitations of the
Blessed Virgin Mary in history occurred in Fatima, Portugal. She
appeared six times to three shepherd children, Lucia, Francisco
and
Jacinta, between May 13
and October 13, 1917. It is believed that she chose Fatima because
during the persecutions of the time, this little village
remained faithful to its Catholic
beliefs. Mary told the children war is a punishment for sin; that
God would punish the world for its sins in our time by means
of war, hunger, persecution of the
Church and the Holy Father, the Pope, unless we listened to and obeyed
the command of God.
The Children of Fatima
The
children were also told by Our Lady the date that God would
perform a miracle so that people would believe in
the apparition. A marvelous
miracle was worked
in the sky above Fatima on October 13, 1917, the date Lucy and
the other two children prophesied. The sun began rotating,
becoming larger
and
smaller, coming
close to people and then far away from them. The sun “danced” for
70,000 witnesses. In addition Our Lady of Fatima confided a three-part
secret to the children in July 1917. Two parts have been revealed:
an urgent plea for
acts of prayer and sacrifice to save souls, and a prophecy of
World War II, calling for the consecration of Russia as a condition
of
world peace. The third part
has been in the possession of the Holy See since 1957. Most informed
sources speculate that this portion of the secret concerns chaos
in the Catholic Church,
predicting widespread apostasy and a loss of faith beginning
in the sixth decade of the 20th century. “You saw hell
where the souls of poor sinners go. In order to save them, God
wishes to
establish
devotion to my Immaculate Heart
in the world. If people do what I ask, many souls will be saved
and there will be peace.”
Since
that day, the number of endeavors that have grown up around
Our Lady of Fatima is enormous.
Several popes have visited Fatima
on solemn
pilgrimage
and
Pope John Paul II has gone at least once in every decade of
his pontificate. He publicly credited Our Lady of Fatima
for saving
his life during
an assassination attempt in 1981 (the 64th anniversary of the
first apparition).
Universities,
churches, shrines, hospitals, schools, tours, retreats, a Blue
Army, books, videos, DVD’s, jewelry, and statues are
just some of the industries that have grown up around this
awe-inspiring
and lovely Lady. Belief in the Fatmia apparitions
are now widely synonymous with an orthodox adherence to the
doctrines, rites and traditional practices and teaching of
the Roman Catholic
Church.
*
* *
Fado music is the heart of the Portuguese soul, arguably the oldest
urban folk music in the world. Its themes have
remained
constant:
destiny, betrayal in
love, death and despair: Why did you leave me, where
did you go? I walk
the streets
looking at every place we were together, except you’re
not there.” It
is sad music and a fado performance is not successful if
an audience is not moved to tears. Skilled singers in taverns,
brothels and on street corners are known
as fadistas. Amalia Rodrigues was the towering figure of
Portuguese fado from the 1940’s until 1999; the diva
worshipped at home and celebrated abroad. At her death,
the Prime Minister called for three days of national mourning.
Such is the hold of fado over the people of Portugal. The
music of unsatisfied
longing (saudade, nostalgia for unrealized dreams), fado is an emigrant expression of homesickness for the place
they
left behind. But words can never do fado justice;
it must be felt and experienced. One must have the soul
to transmit that feeling. The female fadista stands in
front
of the musicians dressed in black, with a
shawl draped over her shoulders, and communicates through
gesture and facial expressions. The hands move, the body
is stationary—solemn
and majestic. Contemporary fado musicians like Misia have
introduced the music to people such
as Sting, carrying the tradition forward and trying to
bring in a new audience.
*
* *
And
so we at Common Ground 191 have Portugal’s soil,
an amalgam of world power through politics gained and lost;
Our Lady of Fatima; and fado. Think how
blue the fado aficionados would be without Our Lady of
Fatima! Ivy Last was Common Ground 191’s soil collector
in Portugal. We seem to have lost contact with her, so
are unable to present her personal story
at this time. Maybe later we
will have the opportunity to add it to this journal.
We will send a water dog to find her, perhaps. In any event,
Common Ground 191
is proud to add the complex
soil of Portugal, the cork capital and so much more,
to our fresco project.
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