Extending from November until January, olive picking near little towns and villages, especially if the harvest is small, continues to be hand-held, as in the past. Men and women are assembled with their essential equipment for the harvest: stairs; ‘cambos’ or ‘cambões’ (hooked stick for picking fruit); ‘cirandas’ (sort of sieves for separating fruit from leaves); bags; ‘panais’ (cloths that extend next to the olive trees where the olives fall) and the retailer (large stick to retreat the olive trees), thus heading for the olive groves, also taking the lunch baskets. At the end of the harvest, the owner of the olive or olive groves would then – as is still the case here today – serve the “ranchos” with a meal, usually a supper consisting of ‘a large bean soup with vegetables’ (which remains) and ‘cod stew’ ‘(Replaced by a lamb or kid’s stew), never missing the ‘filhoses’ and the wine – all of which is now kept in a more restricted and familiar way. This is repeated at Figueirinha Ecotourism, rites and tasks, laughter and fraternization, born of a time that does not fade in the memory of the people.
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