Manuelas everyday routine. 89 years old Manuela has been drying and selling fish since she was 7. This ancestral tradition is a feminine skill that has been passed down from mothers to daughters over the years. It is still alive today.

Many years of experience. 89 years old Manuela wake up at 4 a.m. to prepare the fish. It is a hard work of several hours that requires the fish to be opened, gutted and placed in water and salt for 15 minutes, before being exposed to the sun.

Sun-dried fish - Traditional Portuguese way.  Historically, the practice of drying fish emerged as a form of conservation, in which the women of Nazaré dried the fish they did not sell during the day, to preserve it and put it back on sale in the following days. The fish drying was done in the sand, on a straw "bed", which required the fish to be turned over so that it dried on both sides. After the invention of the "estindarte", the process became simpler since it allows air circulation that causes the fish to dry on both sides simultaneously.

Younger generations are not interested in this tradition anymore. "Nowadays women don't want to get their nails dirty, they want gel nails."

"Estindarte" (extendal), a space for drying fish, installed on a high platform at the height of the marginal to facilitate communication between fishmongers and the public.

Fish sale stand The "palecos" that pass by the "estindarte" of dried fish in front of the Nazaré Cultural Center (old lota) often fall into the fishmongers' network. "Oh, mom, do you want something?" It is one of the trading sessions sunt by women (and some men) who are dedicated there to drying fish, an art that is trying to resist the erosion of the new times.

It is not known exactly when the drying of the fish began in Nazaré, but there are those who art that it is a secular tradition. In winter, fishermen could not always go to the sea, food was scarce and it was necessary to preserve the fish, by drying in the sun, so that there was no lack of food. The horse mackerel, the batuque and the cação, being abundant species, were the most used to dry. After "manhado", which is like someone who says to take out the guts, the fish is washed and passed through a brine made with water and coarse salt, being then opened or climbed and extended in the paneiros in the sun, distributed by rows on the beach.

Waiting for a customers

The horse mackerel, the batuque and the cação, being abundant species, were the most used to dry. After "manhado", which is like someone who says to take out the guts, the fish is washed and passed through a brine made with water and coarse salt, being then opened or climbed and extended in the paneiros in the sun, distributed by rows on the beach.

The horse mackerel, the batuque and the cação, being abundant species, were the most used to dry. After "manhado", which is like someone who says to take out the guts, the fish is washed and passed through a brine made with water and coarse salt, being then opened or climbed and extended in the paneiros in the sun, distributed by rows on the beach.

Dry fish is when it is two or three days in the sun, depending on atmospheric conditions; sick is when it has only two or three hours of sun, in the middle between raw and dry.

"Nowadays women don't want to get their nails dirty, they want gel nails." Younger generations are not interested in this tradition anymore.

"This in summer is worse than in winter. In winter it sells more because they are customers from the surroundings and know what they want and like."

"This in summer is worse than in winter. In winter it sells more because they are customers from the surroundings and know what they want and like."

Women power

The horse mackerel, the batuque and the cação, being abundant species, were the most used to dry. After "manhado", which is like someone who says to take out the guts, the fish is washed and passed through a brine made with water and coarse salt, being then opened or climbed and extended in the paneiros in the sun, distributed by rows on the beach.

Hard work from sunrise to sunset.

"Fishing is the men's lives, their identity. It takes them from the home and from the village for most of the day. Atlantic fishing is difficult and dangerous. Through fishing the men gain their self-respect and their man-hood."

"Fishing is the men's lives, their identity. It takes them from the home and from the village for most of the day. Atlantic fishing is difficult and dangerous. Through fishing the men gain their self-respect and their man-hood."

"The rest of village life is left in the hands of the women."

"The rest of village life is left in the hands of the women."

"Fishing is the men's lives, their identity. It takes them from the home and from the village for most of the day. Atlantic fishing is difficult and dangerous. Through fishing the men gain their self-respect and their man-hood. The rest of village life is left in the hands of the women."

"Fishing is the men's lives, their identity. It takes them from the home and from the village for most of the day. Atlantic fishing is difficult and dangerous. Through fishing the men gain their self-respect and their man-hood. The rest of village life is left in the hands of the women."