Candidatura Reserva da Biosfera - Santana Madeira Biosfera

oots of the early settlers, acquired tunes, songs and dances of their own, reflecting the
daily life of an entire population that shared a way of life.
The main celebrations held in the county are the “Cantar dos Reis”, the “Varrer dos
armários” and the feasts of popular Saints and S. Martinho. In addition to these
celebrations of religious nature, some festivities have strong popular participation from
all parishes, is the “Festa dos Compadres” held in Santana, and several activities related
to grape harvesting, wine making or related with the typical fruits of each parish such as
“Festa do Limão” dedicated to lemon crop in the parish of Ilha or “Festa da Anona”
dedicated to the large crop of custard apples in the parish of Faial.
Figure 33. Popular festivity in the urban center of Santana
The lands of the municipality of Santana were largely agricultural and sparsely
populated since its origins. The meager built heritage, mostly serving the spiritual needs
of a population strongly linked to Catholicism, and emerging socio-economic activities
linked to agricultural production of the resident population of settlers. Thus, the majority
of buildings that are classified as cultural heritage are churches and chapels, where
people seeked divine comfort, and also agro-industrial archaic facilities. Of these,
watermills where used to grind the grain, essential to make bread, located in the area
60 Application of Santana, Madeira to Biosphere Reserve – UNESCO - MAB