CANEIRAS| SANTARÉM

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Near Santarém, on the river bank, there is a village that is the memory of a people nicknamed "river nomads". From the middle of the XIX century, families of fishermen from the beach area of Vieira de Leiria, moved to the riverside areas of the Tagus, fleeing the rigors of winter that did not allow them to seek their sustenance at sea. Seasonal displacement in which they made the boats their temporary home. They ended up settling on the banks of this river that provided them with fish all year round, especially shad, lamprey, and fataça, which are the basis of typical dishes of our region today.

They built small houses made first of reeds and then of wood, erected on stilts to protect themselves from the rises of the river. The houses, built on pillars to resist the floods of the river, were painted in bright colors, typical of the area where they came from, green, red, and blue, and usually according to the color of their own boats.

The Avieira culture is the only European fluvial stilt culture, and has original characteristics mainly in four features: in the boats, in the fishing arts, in the stilt buildings, and in the gastronomy.

Today, with the deterioration of the quality of the waters of the Tagus causing the reduction of fish, and their own desire to want a different life for their children, the population of the Avieira villages has begun to decline.

Still, the avian culture lives on. The fish have returned to the river, and children and grandchildren have also been returning to it, some to fish, others to use the houses as weekends resting places, and still others to develop more tourism-guided activities.

The avian culture (...) has survived by the hands of people who work, struggle, and resist, who change as and when necessary, and adapt, without, however, losing their identity.

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Distrito: Santarém Concelho: Santarém Coordenadas GPS: 39º 11`21.19``N - 8º 41`04.07``O.