São Gonçalinho

São Gonçalinho is the patron of Aveiro's fishermen and, by tradition, a matchmaker and a healer of back pain, and the festival around 10 January in the old Beira-Mar quarter works like this: people who made a vow to him - for a marriage, a recovery, a safe return - pay it by climbing onto the roof of his small octagonal chapel and throwing cavacas, hard glazed sweet cakes, down into the crowd below, who catch them in umbrellas held upside down, in baskets, or in their hands. Thousands are thrown across the days. They are genuinely hard and being hit by one hurts, which is why umbrellas are standard equipment and why people wear hats. There are also processions, a mass, folk dancing and food stalls, and the quarter is packed. It is a specifically local festival rather than one adapted for visitors.

What you actually see

• The cake throwing - vows paid by throwing hard cavacas from the chapel roof.
• The upturned umbrellas - the crowd's standard catching equipment.
• The chapel - a small octagonal building in the old fishermen's quarter.
• The vows - payments for marriages, recoveries and safe returns at sea.

When to go

Around 10 January, over several days, with the throwing concentrated in the evenings. An evening or two. Cold January weather.

Honest expectations

The cavacas are hard and thrown from a height - being hit is common and can hurt, so a hat or umbrella is not optional. Very crowded in narrow streets. Cold and often wet. This is a local devotional festival, not a staged event.

Nearby

Aveiro's canals and the salt pans are close; Costa Nova is west.