Never has this FUN recorded as many correct guesses as it has this week...
Congratulations
to
The 8 ex-aequo winners:
Baz
Bill
Fatos
Lynne
Marianne
Mitch
Monica
Viera
whose guess was: A pair of newlyweds sharing a kiss
NEXT ROUND: MONDAY, OCT. 15, 2012
~~ THANKS ALL WHO JOINED THE FUN ~~
My little token of appreciation to the ex-aequo winners:
A cake styled with Portuguese love words, sentences and symbols
PS. The words, sentences and designs are based on the traditional lenço dos namorados 'sweetheart handkerchiefs or Fiancée handkerchiefs' made of linen or cotton and embroidered with several related love patterns. This piece of handcraft is part of the typical clothing from Minho province (in Northern Portugal) and used by women of marrying age. They were used as a ritual of romantic conquest. The girl’s sweetheart should use the handkerchief in public so that everyone would know he had started a love relationship with her.
The girl in love embroided her handkerchief with poems, like this one…
“Escreve-me amor, escreve.
Lá no meio do caminho;
Se não achares papel,
Nas asas de um passarinho.”
Roughly translated into English
“Write to me, my love, write.
At the middle of your journey;
If you can´t find a piece of paper,
Do it in the wings of a little bird.”
…and designs with specific meanings…
a rose - woman;
a heart - love;
a lily - virginity;
a red carnation - some provocation;
a pair of doves - the symbol of the in-love couple.
Also known as “Lenços de Pedidos” (Request Handkerchiefs), “Lenços dos Namorados” are closely related with the 17th and 18th centuries Nobility handkerchiefs. Later, they were used by illiterate young women, becoming more widely used, sometimes with spelling mistakes, like this one:
“antes murrer qe o teu amor perder” (“rather shall I die than lose your love”)
(here “murrer qe” should be written “morrer que”.)
“E tão serto eu ti amár (It is so true I love you)
cumó o lenso branco ser (As white the handkerchief is)
i só déixarei de ti amár (I won't stop loving you)
cuando o lenso a côr perder” (Unless the colour fades away).
The above poem without spelling mistakes:
“É tão certo eu te amar,
como o lenço branco ser,
e só deixarei de te amar,
quando o lenço a cor perder”.
Nowadays, it’s totally different. We send love messages by email or cell phone. We use Skype easily. We travel mostly for pleasure and for business, not to distant colonial provinces or to discover unknown lands. And mostly, we travel by plane. Even when we travel by boat, it’s safer.
But not so long ago, during the sixties in the last century, Portuguese young men went on a sea journey to the Colonial War in Angola or Mozambique and waved farewell to the girls they loved with the “Lenço dos Namorados” they had been given minutes before…
~~ Have a great rest of the week ~~
