Branca Teixeira and Felicidade Lopes provide testimony about life in rural Portugal between the 1930s and 1960s under the Estado Novo regime. Children played with materials from nature and helped with household tasks in their free time. Families lived in basic homes and had limited resources, but survived on diets of bread, vegetables, and occasional meat. News and entertainment came through radio broadcasts in wealthier homes. The testimonies aim to preserve memories of childhood and family life during a period of difficulty but also love in small communities.

1. Pieces of life
between the 30’ and
the 60’ in the rural
areas of Portugal
Author :Branca TEIXEIRA and Felicidade LOPES
Companion: Anabela MESQUITA and Fernanda Natália PEREIRA
Place :Vilarinho da Castanheira, Portugal
Period : 1930 - 2022
These are the memories of Branca and Felicidade of their life
between the 30’ and the 60’ in the rural areas of Portugal (Vilarinho
da Castanheira in Trás os Montes). The village could be small but the
heart was big as were the dreams.
Photos at the top: Felicidade (young and older)
Photos at the bottom: Branca (young and older)

2. Slide 00
Context
At that time Portugal was ruled by Oliveira Salazar.
Although a small country, Portugal had some colonies in
Africa, South America and in East.
Salazar was a nationalist dictator of the Estado Novo. He
was born in a humble family and he started his political
career as Ministry of Finances in 1926 and between 1928
and 1932. Later he ruled Portugal between 1932 and
1968, when he was destituted.. Inspired by the fascism
and relying on the social doctrine of the Catholic Church,
Salazar moved towards a corporatism of the State, with a
nationalist economic line of action based on the ideal of
autarky. This economic nationalism led him to take
measures of protectionism and isolationism of a fiscal,
tariff, customs nature, for Portugal and its colonies, which
had great positive and negative impacts throughout the
period in which he held office,
WHEN ENDED UP THE ESTADO NOVO IN PORTUGAL?
1974
1933
1968

3. Slide 01
How children played in
rural areas, BETWEEN THE
30’ AND THE 60’?
In the rural areas, children seemed to live a life apart from the reality that was lived
in the rest of Europe. They played with balls, à “Macaca”, with little stones, dolls,
commerce simulation (used rice and other grains to simulate the smalls commerces
with buying and selling). They also played with earth and plants.
Girls could make their own dolls with poppies. Children also played with the pine
cones and pretended they were the pugs and pulled them with a string, played the
spinning top and the wealthiest families had wooden horses.
HOW DID CHILDREN PLAY IN THE RURAL AREAS , IN
PORTUGAL?
Played computer games
Played with natural materials (stones, earth, rice, etc.)
They did not play since they had to help their parents.

4. Slide 02
Other
entertainment
During the winter, when children (boys and girls) had to
stay at home and could not play outside, they used to do
some work with their hands - embroidery, woodcraft,
among other activities. Some of the children also used to
build their own toys such as balls and dolls, although
some families also used to buy them.
EMBROIDERY
Children didn’t use to learn how to do embroidery
since this was an activity for older women
Boys and girls learned how to do embroidery. This
was an activity for the long winter nights.
Activities in open spaces, even during the winter,
were common. Embroidery and woodcraft were not
considered as entertainment

5. HOW WAS CALLED THE REFORM OF EDUCATION AT THAT TIME?
Carneiro Pacheco’s reform
Salazar’s reform
Estado Novo’s reform
Slide 03
At school
Carneiro Pacheco’s education reform began in 1936. During this period,
he transformed the Ministry of Public Instruction into the Ministry of
National Education, founded Mocidade Portuguesa, Mocidade Feminina
and Obra das Mães for National Education, created the National Board
of Education, the Institute for Higher Culture, the Academia Portuguesa
da Educação, History and the National Institute of Physical Education,
introduced the model of the single book, the mandatory posting of the
crucifix in classrooms and the subjected marriage of teachers to the
authorization of the State.
At school, there was no central heating as todays, in the majority of the
buildings. when it was cold, it was cold. and children suffered a lot with
it. To minimize the situation, some children used to take some embers
to the school in small cans and they put them at their feet.

6. Slide 04
Products
The adverts at that time were simple. The channels used
were off-line and the values, in some of them, focused in the
family or in the role the woman was supposed to play in the
family or in the society. The images show some of the
products that were advertised at that time.
HOW WERE THE PRODUCTS ADVERTISED?
Advertisements were already sophisticated
Messages were complex.
The adverts were simple

7. Slide 05
News
The moment of the news was a special one. Family got
together around the radio in order to listen to the news from
all over the World. But not all families had a radio - only the
wealthier families. And at that moment, the doors of those
houses opened to the other neighbors so all were updated.
During the news, children couldn’t make any noise.
HOW DID PEOPLE KNEW THE NEWS?
They listened to the radio
They watched TV
They didn’t care about the news

8. WHAT CHILDREN HAD TO EAT?
They didn’t have much as there was hunger in those
places
They had mostly fruit and vegetables
They had meat in every meal and there was no
hunger.
Slide 06
Food
The basis of the diet was the so-called black bread (rye); wheat was only for the rich.
People accompanied the bread with olives, onions, figs and, if pork was killed, with
chunks of bacon. Those who had flocks ate cheese. They could also eat chestnuts. For
breakfast, lunch and dinner, they ate “broth”, thickened with barley because rice was
for the rich. When there were possibilities, they ate sardines, often divided into three.
At Christmas they ate smoked ray. At Easter, they had lamb. Apples and grapes were
hung from the ceiling to eat throughout the year.
Although the moments were not easy, at the rural areas, in the small villages, people
considered themselves as lucky ones as they had food, even if they had no surplus.
They had the generosity of the land - fruit and vegetables and even some animals that
they killed from time to time in order to have protein.
They baked their own bread as well as some cakes made of sourdough that they fried
and put some sugar and cinnamon.. They had sausages and ham. In those places,
they had no hunger even if the food didn’t abound.

9. Slide 07
At home
Most of the houses were not clean. They were built, some, in stone on the outside and the divisions were
in taipa (wood covered with clay); others were all in rammed earth. Many houses only had one room. In
large families They all slept in the same compartment. Inside, the walls had “pillars” openings that served
as closets. The kitchen walls were lined with newspapers that were renewed at the time of Easter
cleaning. Those who had cabinets made a kind of newspaper lace to put on the shelves. In the so called
“quelhos” (narrow streets), the ground was covered with nozzles and was where the dumping was made,
which later served as a manure dump. From where to where, usually at the beginning and end of the
house, there was a board to delimit who owned the manure.
Beds were usually of iron; they had benches with an anatomical hole in the middle to put the hand and it
was where they sat by the fireplace, to eat and to socialize. The food was cooked in large iron pots. They
and a wooden chest to store the bread.
Life was not easy. But people survived. They played. they celebrated the most important moments of
their lives. They had friends. They laughed and cried. They played. They were creative. They managed to
grow and become adults. It was not easy but… it was worth. Love and happiness were there.
HOW WAS THE LIVING CONDITIONS AT HOME?
All houses had electricity and piped water.
There were servants that went to the water source and carry it to
each house
Children help to carry the water to the house and so baths took
place only once a week

10. Slide 08
Hommage
As this work could not be done without the testimony of the protagonists of the
history, these slides represent a kind homage to those persons who lived at
that time between difficulty and love and kindness.
I want to thank to Branca Teixeira her testimony.
Photos: Branca young and then older, with one of the daughters (Anabela) and
her grandsons (Pedro Ivo and Nuno Miguel).

11. Slide 9
Homage
And finally an homage to Felicidade Lopes
These testimonies remind us that the most important aspect of life is
Love. And Love manifest itself in the small details - in the eyes, in
the hugs, in the care of the other… With Love all the difficulties can
be overcomed.
Photos: Felicidade LOPES with her family, in particular with her
daughter Fernanda Natália PEREIRA who had the kindness to
provide some of the photos of this work and the content as well.
THANK YOU

12. Epilogue
This work represents the testimony of 2 persons: Branca that has been interviewed and
Felicidade by the report of her daughter, Fernanda Natália. With their help, we are able now to
have a clearer picture about how children lived between the 30’ and the 50’, in the rural areas in
Portugal. As they say “It was not easy. There was not the quantity of products as we have today.
They had enough to live with no surplus. But they had the most important ingredient - Love”.
This work is a humble contribution to let the reader know a little bit more about life at the time of
our parents and / or grandparents and understand how they grew up and under which
conditions. We take for granted many things that we have today without realizing that what
matters are relationships, are feelings, is the possibility to have the beloved ones next to us.
We hope you enjoy doing this quiz and learning about life in Portugal, as we had preparing this
for you.