FESTIVAL OF THE TRAYS

The Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays) or Festa do Divino Espírito Santo (Feast of the Holy Spirit), takes place every four years in July in Tomar, Portugal. This festival is an ancient tradition and the most important celebrated in the city, attracting people from all over the world. It is held every four years, the last one being held between June 29 to July 8, 2019.^[1] The local population parades in pairs with the girls carrying tabuleiros on their heads. The tabuleiro is made of 30 stacked pieces of bread, either in 6 rows of 5 or 5 rows of 6, decorated with flowers. At the top of the tabuleiro is a crown which normally contains either a white dove, symbolising the Holy Spirit, or the esfera armilar (armillary sphere), a symbol of the historical Portuguese maritime expansion, and over the sphere, the cross of the Order of Christ.

The festival also includes various traditional ceremonies like the “Procession of the Crowns”, the “Procession of the Boys”, the “Procession of the Mordomo” and the “Arrival of the Bulls of the Holy Spirit”, as well as partial parades and popular games. The Pêza, or sharing of bread and meat by the population, is celebrated on the day after the processions.