The centenary Handicrafts and Handicrafts Fair, which precedes the Pilgrimage of Agonia, takes place this year through a digital platform, as an alternative to the marginal garden of Viana do Castelo, due to the covid-19 pandemic, was announced today.
“We are aware of the enormous impact that this pandemic is also having on artisans, especially those who do not have a physical store. For many, the Handicraft Exhibition at the Nossa Senhora d’Agonia Festival was very important for their sales to materialize ”, stressed the chairman of the d’Agonia party committee, António Cruz, quoted in a note sent today to the newsrooms.
According to the organization, in charge of MAOS – Movement of Arts and Crafts and with the support of the Chamber, the artisans of Viana do Castelo can register on the digital platform from today until 10 July.
The online directory to be created by the party committee “will integrate the official page Festasdagonia2020.com, which will allow artisans to publicize their products, art and contacts, as happened in previous editions during the exhibition, in the marginal garden of City.
Through that directory, “users will be able to see the portfolio of each registered artisan, with photographs of their work. In the same space will meet the artisans of the county who wish to do so and in this way users can purchase pieces of art directly from the authors ”.
This year, the capital of Alto Minho will not celebrate on the streets, for the first time in 248 years, the emblematic figures of the Pilgrimage d’Agonia due to the restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic.
The Handicraft Exhibition of the Nossa Senhora d’Agonia Festival dates back to 1917, when the first exhibition of regional cuisine took place, then organized by the Portuguese Women’s Crusade in Viana do Castelo. The archives at the time show that the works on display were essentially bobbin lace and cotton embroidery on linen cloth.
In the same way it has been held until this year, the fair attracts dozens of artisans and many visitors. Divided by the sectors of shopkeepers, local handicrafts, mixed, national handicrafts and gastronomy, this Romaria d ‘Agonia fair has its own program, with daily stage animation and traditional music, swoops and folk groups, being considered a living showcase of the handicrafts of region and where new forms of creation appear annually.
This year, the party committee will make content on the streets of Viana do Castelo available with the main numbers of the pilgrimage so that they “can be felt” by the population.
The ” QR Code ‘(state-of-the-art bar codes with information that can be read by’ smartphones’), with multimedia content and a digital platform, will be placed at the main points of the party, allowing to view on the mobile phone the emblematic pictures that, they usually take place in the places where the codes are installed and which will be available on an Internet page that will be created for that purpose ”.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed nearly 484,000 deaths and infected more than 9.5 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal, 1,549 people out of 40,415 confirmed as infected died, according to the most recent bulletin from the Directorate-General for Health.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
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