Pauliteiros de Miranda

The pauliteiros dance in groups of eight, in white shirts, black waistcoats, embroidered woollen skirts worn over trousers, stockings and flower-trimmed hats, striking wooden sticks - paulitos - against each other in patterns to the music of gaita de foles, the Mirandese bagpipe, with drum and snare. The dances, the lhaços, number in the dozens, each with its own tune and sequence, and the form is generally understood as related to sword and stick dances across Europe. It belongs to the Planalto Mirandês, the plateau around Miranda do Douro on the Spanish border, which is also the home of Mirandese - a language of the Astur-Leonese family, not a dialect of Portuguese, recognised by law as Portugal's second official language in 1999 and spoken by a few thousand people. Groups perform at village festivals through the summer and at events elsewhere.

What to look for

• The stick dance - eight men striking paulitos in patterned sequences.
• The costume - embroidered woollen skirts worn over trousers, with flowered hats.
• The gaita de foles - the Mirandese bagpipe with drum accompaniment.
• The Mirandese language - Portugal's second official language, spoken on this plateau.

When to go

Village festivals run through the summer, with the Santa Bárbara festival in Miranda in August among the largest. Performances last an hour or more.

Good to know

Miranda do Douro is remote - four hours from Porto. Performances are at village festivals on local dates, not on a schedule for visitors; ask locally. Winters on the plateau are severe. Facilities in the villages are minimal.

Nearby

The Douro International park is along the border; Bragança is north-west.