If you are looking for a story you will surely find one here in the mountains, for tragedy and mystery stalk these villages. The modern drama of the deforestation of Silveira is one of a long series of occurrences that have a way of solidifying into legends, like clay into schist.
Cerdeira, a corruption of sardeira, the old word for cherry tree (cerejeira), is said to have been founded by runaway lovers who, defying their disapproving families, settled in this isolated valley to continue their lives together. Another legend says Dom Dinis I ordered these outcasts to settle the Serra da Lousã area in the late 13th or early 14th century, perhaps as a sort of penance for the sin of love.
The occupation of Cerdeira ended with a fatal axe blow when the remaining three villagers fought over water rights in the 1970s. The perpetrator, a well-respected man, served jail time, then returned to the aldeia in 1983 where he lived for nine more years. A fictionalized version of the incident was made into a film called “O fim do mundo” (The End of the World) in 1992.
At Casal Novo, as the last inhabitant walked out of the abandoned the village forever, crews arrived to install electricity and build a road, services the villagers had begged for over decades.
At Chiqueiro, treasure was discovered under the old wooden floorboards of the parish church during renovations in the 1950s. A dozen objects including crowns, necklaces, swords and earrings were uncovered, which the residents attributed to the presence of Princess Perata, said to have fled from Lousã Castle and taken refuge there.
The Lost Village of Pé da Lomba I felt like an actor in a movie of my own as I set out to find the “lost” village of Pé da Lomba. Using my trusty contour map, the N-236 milestones and a stand of five giant sequoias, I parked my car where I felt I was least likely to reverse it over a cliff, and set off up the road.
Near the 17 km marker, a white-plastered water station marked the end of a subterranean aqueduct, still gushing water though a conduit leading to the village fountain. It was blocked up, but two benches, one on either side of the font, still waited for visitors. In Candal, they say that one of the two benches beside the
fountain is for lovers, while the other is for gossipers. It is not hard to imagine that happening here, as the villagers rested a while before climbing back up the stone steps with their water jugs.
Only a few ruined abrigos are left on the hillside. I carried on up the road, climbing up some steps notched in the cliff for a look-round. A little further along were another set of stairs, concealing a breathtaking series of waterfalls, each with its own stone pool. Crossing the stream, I hiked up the hill and found several ruined schist dwellings and a cliff-side path overlooking the cascades. Based on Manuel’s description of the tranquil energy the place gave off, I was sure I had found it. It was beautiful, perfect and utterly lonely. It would be wonderful to see the village restored, and with a new purpose. I hoped would be a story I would
get to write, but the time had come to leave Cerdeira.
A tiny shrine in a niche in the wall of the house next to Casa do Forno contains a faded painted board with these words.
Milagre que fez o Senhor dos Aflitos
á aldeia da Cerdeira que não a deixou morrer
e que sempre protegeu os filhos da Cerdeira
por este mundo fora
The miracle that the Lord of the Afflicted made
did not let the village of Cerdeira die
and always protected the children of Cerdeira around the world.
I dropped a few coins in the offering plate and headed down the path for the last
time.
Leslie Smith is a writer from Ottawa, Canada. She spent two weeks at Cerderia: Home for Creativity as a writer in residence during November and December of 2023.
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Photo credit: Leslie Smith