Draft:Pregão

The rumbling of the drums before the start of the Pregão, Martins Sarmento High School, 5 December 2023

The Pregão, Pregão of Saint Nicholas or Bando Escolástico, its one of the eight main festivities of the Nicolinas, taking place every year on 5 December at many different locations in the centre of Guimarães.

Designation

It consists of a récit performed by a high school student, member of the Nicolinas Festivities Committee, called the Pregoeiro. It is declaimed with a satirical tone, criticizing society and recent events, in the manner that old town criers brought to towns and cities. Through the Pregão and the voice of the Pregoeiro, the students of Guimarães condense their opinions and their critical view of the events that have taken place over the last year into a single document.

History

Its origins date back to the 18th century, when the Pregão was used to announce the start of the Nicolinas (which at the time only took place on two days, the 5th and 6th of December), a task now performed at the Pinheiro festivity. However, the oldest written Pregão that still exists is dated from 1817, but it’s almost certain that it started earlier.

In terms of academic festivities, the number of the Pregão is unique in that there are no other known or reported events that are part of academic festivities that have even the same characteristics as the Pregão of Saint Nicholas.

Characteristics

The text

The text that is a document written entirely in verse that is difficult and painstaking to prepare. It is also an important historical document, as it always states many of the most significant events of each year since at least 1817.

There is no real protocol, but following tradition, the verses in the Pregão always include criticisms of the local, national and international political situation, analyses of the season of Vitória S.C., exaltation of Guimarães and references to St. Nicholas, classical mythology, academic hazing and love.

Pregoeiro

The Pregoeiro reciting the Pregão at the Martins Sarmento High School, 5 December 2023

The Pregoeiro is the student that declaims the Pregão. He is chosen from amongst the members of the Nicolinas Festivities Committee, naturally the one with the loudest and best projecting voice, most likely to be heard by the students accompanying the Pregão procession and by the population of Guimarães in general.

Procession

Procession

See also

• Nicolinas
• Guimarães
• Declamation