According to the mayor Helena Barril, the Miranda do Douro municipality will apply to be listed on the National Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage for its ancestor ceremonies with face masks during the Winter Solstice. As the major defends, these celebrations should be part of the national inventory for their preservation, because they are an integral part of the identity of Terra de Miranda territory.

As Helena Barril explained, “This request for registration of these ancestral rituals in the municipality of Miranda do Douro will be submitted to the National Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage, with urgent safeguarding, because these Winter Solstice celebrations are part of the identity of the territory of Terra de Miranda and we want them to be part of the national inventory for their safeguarding”.

Rituals with masked figures are still performed in this border municipality of the Bragança region in the villages of S. Pedro da Silva (13 December), Constantim (26 and 27 December), and Vila Chã de Braciosa (1 January), with the distinctive purity. Each of these festivities will be the focus of an application, which was made on 10 July, the day that Miranda do Douro celebrates its 479th anniversary of becoming a city, according to the mayor of the Bragança district.

These masked rituals take place during a time when pre/post-Christmas celebrations are strongly marked, according to a summary of the application that Lusa had access to. As a result, the displaced residents typically return in large numbers and actively participate in the corresponding festive celebrations. According to the same document “The solstice celebrations with masked rituals always attract a considerable number of visitors, many of whom come from the neighbouring Spanish lands of the Zamora region, a territory particularly rich in similar events and rituals”.