The “Os Ferreiros de Carvalhais” Ethnographic Farm was founded in 1975 by the then festival committee of Our Lady of the Light (Patron Saint of Carvalhais). Following its first performance, it came under the responsibility of the Carvalhense Cultural and Recreational Centre, which has carried out commendable work in the field of ethnographic research.
It represents the Beira Litoral region, where it is situated, with the blacksmiths of Carvalhais being its main ethnographic feature, as this was once the village’s main economic activity, earning it fame throughout the country and even abroad.
In 1995, it applied for membership of the Portuguese Folklore Federation, which, following a period of intensive work to improve its standards, was accepted, and it has been affiliated with that Federation ever since. In 2013, it was also accepted as a member of CIOFF, one of the world’s largest organisations for folklore festivals.
Throughout its history, it has travelled the length of Portugal from north to south, bringing its folk and ethnographic traditions to other places, and has also organised national and international folk festivals every year. It has spread its customs and traditions beyond the country’s borders, particularly to Spain. It has performed on the outskirts of Paris (France) and also in Luxembourg for communities of Portuguese emigrants. He has also taken part in several international folk festivals in Europe, notably in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. In the Americas, he took part in a world festival in Mexico and has also performed on the island of Madeira.
