Onderbergers celebrate with Portuguese at colourful annual festa
Hundreds of people packed the tables at the local Catholic Church on Sunday afternoon as Onderbergers joined the Portuguese community in their annual cultural celebrations.
MALALANE – The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima is celebrated across the world in May to commemorate the appearance of the Virgin Mary to three child shepherds at Fatima, Portugal between May and October in 1917.
In Malalane, the festa starts with mass and then a procession around the local Catholic Church. From mid-morning, community members trickled in to get comfortable at tables set out under canopies and under the trees.
READ: Comfort food: Try this Portuguese inspired sausage and bean stew
Days of work go into preparing the vast volumes of delicious chicken, espetadas, prawn rissoles, pasteis de nata and other traditional Portuguese foods that are sold during the festa.
Kids were entertained by Zippy the Clown and his stilt-walking, balloon-sculpturing antics, getting their faces skillfully painted and enjoying the fun at the kiddies’ corner.
Traditional Portuguese music made way for a live performance by Roberto Adão, a young Portuguese and English singer from Pretoria.
The musicians and dancers from Rancho Folclórico Casa Social da Madeira, a cultural group also from Pretoria, entertained the crowd with traditional dances by the youngsters and music and song from the older members.
READ: Fun facts and health facts about pineapples that you may not have known
An auction was held mid-afternoon to raise funds for the church and guests enjoyed the festa’s jolly atmosphere until early evening.
