Camacha - First Football Game Played

The first football game in Portugal was held on the island of Madeira, more precisely at Largo da Achada, in Camacha. The year was 1875 when the young British citizen Harry Hinton, who was a resident on the island of Madeira, introduced this sport for the entertainment of all.

What's in a Name?

Very often the first piece of information we have about a person is their name. It’s often the first thing you learn about someone and we form judgments about people very rapidly. And those judgments accumulate, so the first piece of information is especially important. Even Shakespeare once put it bluntly, "What's in a name?" Apparently, everything. Personally, it had never crossed my mind that James Edward Franco, the famous American actor and filmmaker known for his work in both comedic and dramatic films and TV shows, would be of Portuguese descent, but I have to admit, his surname Franco does have a Portuguese touch to it. After a quick search, I soon found out that he was not only of Portuguese descent, but, check this out, his father Douglas Eugene Franco was of Madeiran descent! It's a small world after all, eh?

Funchal Distinguished by CIVITAS

In 2013, Funchal won the title of "City of the Year" awarded by CIVITAS. This award highlights the most innovative and ITAS

7 Wonders of Portugal

In 2010, over 600 thousand Portuguese voted our Laurel Forest as one of the 7 Wonders of Portugal in the "Forests and Woodlands " category. Porto Santo won the prize in 2012 in "Dunes Beaches" category. It is remarkable that in so little space we have one of the most beautiful forests in Portugal and at the same time, one of the most beautiful dunes beaches.

World Biosphere Reserve

In June 2011, Santana - one of Madeira's municipalities - was recognized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as "World Biosphere Reserve". The region sees, once again, the richness of its heritage being recognized worldwide.

UNESCO

In 1999 UNESCO recognized Madeira Island as Natural Heritage of Humanity. 

Walking along a Levada, going hiking, climbing or canyoning surrounded by a scenario dated from the Tertiary Period is a unique experience.
The magnificent Laurel forest that largely covers the island is one of Madeira's biggest attractions.

Best Island Destination in Europe

In November 2009, CED (World Centre of Excellence for Destinations) categorized Madeira Island as a Destination of Excellence. It was through the “System of Measures for Excellence in Destinations”, that Madeira received the highest score in the categories of Accommodation, Mountain, Landscape, Diving, Culture, Heritage, Safety and Shopping. The same system also highlighted the categories of Environment and Landscape, Transport, Welfare, Spa and Support Services.

Your Next Lesson: Madeira

by Eric Asimov, The New York Times

 

Eric Asimov, The New York Times wine critic, talks about Madeira Wine in the following excerpt:

“... Even among fortified, sweet wines, Madeira is singular. For one thing, it is virtually indestructible, made in such a way that the usual enemies of fine wine — heat, light and air — are shrugged off like flecks of dust. It was this invulnerability that gave Madeira the strength to withstand the rigors of ocean voyages and become the most popular wine of colonial America. The popularity of Madeira, which comes from the Portuguese island of the same name, plummeted in the late 19th century with the arrival of phylloxera, a ravenous aphid that ravaged vineyards throughout Europe. The vineyards were replanted after a solution was found, but revolution, wars, the Depression and Prohibition in the 20th century prevented Madeira from regaining its former markets.

Today, in the United States at least, Madeira has experienced a modest revival. But fortified and sweet wines have largely fallen out of favor, so its popularity remains limited. ... The best bottles tend to come from four principal grapes in ascending order from driest to sweetest: sercial, verdelho, bual and malmsey, which is better known elsewhere as malvasia.

... How to serve Madeira? Please, don’t haul out the brandy snifters, just use ordinary wine glasses. The sercial is dry enough to drink with meals. I remember it as an excellent combination with a grilled skirt steak. The malmsey is quite sweet. It goes wonderfully with cheese and chocolate. The bual is somewhere in between: You can try it with savory and sweet. You may not want to drink as much Madeira as you would table wine. It’s 19 percent to 20 percent alcohol, which makes it more suited to ocean voyages than overindulgence.”

Madeira Wins World Travel Awards

Madeira Islands, elected in 2013, 2014 and 2016 as "Europe's Leading Island Destination", are for the fourth year competing for the World Travel Awards (WTA).

Its opponents are the Canary Islands, Cyprus, the Balearic Islands, Crete, Guernsey, Jersey, Malta and Sardinia. Votes for this first stage of the competition, where Madeira is included as European Region, are already being taken, with voting deadline set for August 6th. The island that wins the voting process in this category will move onto the next stage - the worldwide competition, the voting for which will be held in the last quarter of 2017.

The WTA awards are allocated through an online voting process, and the votes coming from tourism professionals count as two votes, whereas general public votes count as one. The voting process is simple and involves a subscription, which ensures that each person votes only once. It should be noted that in order to be accepted as a tourism professional, one must use a company email and never a personal email.

Twenty-four years in the search for excellence, awarding brands and locations that stand out in the various regions of the world, every year WTA gives out worldwide recognition awards that add value to all those who work in and are dedicated to this industry.

To vote for Madeira go to https://www.worldtravelawards.com/vote

Passion Fruit Pudding

Ingredients

1 litre cream                                                        

400g passion fruit pulp (about 8-10 passion fruit)

1 tin condensed milk 397g                              

8 leaves of gelatin

Preparation

Mix the cream, condensed milk and passion fruit in a bowl. Melt the gelatin in a bowl with a cup of warm water, add each leaf one at a time. Once the gelatin is liquid you can add to the cream mixture stirring it well in. Pour the mixture into a large bowl or 8-10 individual ice cream bowls, and leave in the fridge for about 4 hours till set. You can also leave some of the passion fruit to the side just to put a little on the top once set.

You can use this method with any other fruit pulp, just replace the passion fruit. Raspberries, strawberries, mango all work well, just pulp the fruit down.

World Guinness Book of Records Grants Madeira Title

Guinness World Records™, an organization that certifies the records achieved worldwide, attributed to the 8-minute fireworks show that marked the passing of the year in Madeira, from 2006 to 2007, the title of “Greatest Fireworks Show in the World”. Madeira held this title until 2012.

A 6-km long and 2.7-km wide ellipse of fireworks around the city of Funchal was the record reached. The fire erupted from 37 stations (31 onshore and 6 offshore platforms) strategically placed in the beautiful and unique amphitheater of the city bay. The show involved 17 tons of fireworks and 660 300 shots at a rate of more than 8 thousand shots per minute.
This event was achieved by Macedo's Pirotecnia, a well-known national and international brand.

National Geographic Highlights Madeira

Madeira has succeeded in appearing among the 10 best destinations to visit for a summer holiday, according to the list published by National Geographic magazine (NGM).

NGM went on to assert that Madeira is renowned for its pleasantly mild temperatures, colourful gardens and delicious wine. It added that Madeira is a subtropical paradise. Moreover, NGM highlighted the island’s famous Levada watercourses, which create beautiful paths that feature stunning views across the lush mountains and valleys of the archipelago. Nonetheless, the magazine reminded tourists that the Levadas present various levels of difficulty and therefore, exercising caution when choosing a route was crucial.

Nevertheless, NGM described the open channels carrying water to the population as an unmissable visit for all tourists with a sense of adventure.

Zino’s Petrel (Pterodroma madeira)

Zino's Petrel Pterodroma madeira, an endemic seabird of Madeira, is regarded as one of the most endangered seabirds of Europe. It only breeds on the island of Madeira and nests in extremely steep ridges of the central mountainous massif.

The reason this species was named Freira (which means 'nun' in English) lies in the fact that these birds breeding colony is up on the mountains above Curral das Freiras (Nun's Valley) and as they have white underparts and a grey mantle they look like they wear the same vests of the Nuns from Santa Clara Convent who had taken refuge in that valley from pirate attacks back in 1566.

Zino's Petrels, during their nocturnal visits to their nests, emit calls that sound like wails. For many years these sounds were interpreted by the inhabitants of Curral das Freiras as being the calls of the suffering souls of the shepherds who died on those mountains.

This species was first described in 1903 by a German naturalist priest, Ernst Schmitz. In 1951 Jerry Maul from the Municipal Museum of Funchal, known now as Natural History Museum of Funchal, collected a specimen which was later considered the last trail of existence of this species for the following 18 years. In the sixties, the ornithologist Paul Alexander Zino made several attempts to find some evidence of the species but only at the end of that decade he managed to re-track Zino's Petrel.

In 1987, after observing that several eggs and young birds showed signs of predation, a conservation program was designed aiming to reduce and control the main predators of the species (rats and cats). This program was coordinated by the Freira Conservation Project and assisted by Madeira Natural Park and Natural History Museum of Funchal.

Nowadays the Madeira Natural Park is at the head of the project and the activities which aim to conserve this species through the recuperation of its breeding habitat are co-financed by the Life-Nature Program.

Shape & Size

A medium-small seabird with a slim body and a proportionally small and thin bill which is a distinguishing feature when compared to Fea's Petrel.

Colour Pattern

Zino’s Petrels’ wings and back are dark grey, with white underparts and a grey tail. It has an incomplete grey breast band and normally has a lot of white on its underwings.

Behavior

It has a rapid flight, sweeping up in the wind and then rapidly down again with a marked “W” angulation of the wings.

Habitat

This species is only known on and around the breeding area. They come inshore only at night and nest in the high central mountain massif. Where they go in the non-breeding season is not known. Pterodromas can be seen at sea of Madeira, but it is almost impossible to distinguish between Zino's and Fea’s Petrel unless they pass very near when an educated guess can be made.

Distinction from similar species

Pterodroma madeira is not easily distinguished from Pterodroma feae though Zino’s is in general a smaller bird, more elegant, with whitish underwings and smaller bill. Fea’s Petrels look more bulky bodied and the bill is very heavy when compared to the size of its head. The jizz is a good first impression to try to separate these seabird species with Zino’s flight being more agile, fast and with more aggressive turns than Fea’s Petrel. Though the comparative bill size is the most distinguishing feature.

Manoel Dias Soeiro (Menasseh ben Israel)

Manoel Dias Soeiro, better known by his Hebrew name Menasseh ben Israel (מנשה בן ישראל‎), was born in Madeira in 1604, a year after his parents had left mainland Portugal because of the Inquisition.

Menasseh was a distinguished rabbi, kabbalist, writer, diplomat, printer, publisher, and founder of the first Hebrew printing press in Amsterdam in 1626.

The family moved to the Netherlands in 1610. The Netherlands was in the middle of a process of religious revolt against Catholic Spanish rule throughout the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). Amsterdam was an important center of Jewish life in Europe at this time. The family's arrival in 1610 was during the Twelve Years' Truce mediated by France and England at The Hague.

Menasseh rose to eminence not only as a rabbi and an author, but also as a printer. He established the first Hebrew press in Holland. One of his earliest works, El Conciliador, published in 1632, won immediate reputation; it was an attempt to reconcile apparent discrepancies in various parts of the Hebrew Bible. Among his correspondents were Gerardus Vossius, Hugo Grotius, António Vieiraand Pierre Daniel Huet. In 1638, he decided to settle in Brazil, as he still found it difficult to provide for his wife and family in Amsterdam. Menasseh's wife, Rachel, was a granddaughter of the Abarbanel. Menasseh had three children by her. According to family legend, Menasseh's wife was a descendant of King David, and he was proud of his children's Davidic ancestry.

Menasseh may have visited the Dutch colony's capital of Recife, but did not move there. One of the reasons his financial situation improved in Amsterdam was the arrival of two Portuguese Jewish entrepreneurs, the brothers Abraham and Isaac Pereyra. They hired Rabbi Manasseh to direct a small college or academy (a yeshibah in Spanish-Portuguese parlance of the time) they had founded in the city.

In 1644, Menasseh met Antonio de Montezinos, a Portuguese traveler and Marrano Sephardic Jew who had been in the New World. Montezinos convinced him of his conclusion that the South America Andes' Indians were the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. This purported discovery gave a new impulse to Menasseh's Messianic hopes, as the settlement of Jews throughout the world was supposed to be a sign that the Messiah would come. Filled with this idea, he turned his attention to England, whence the Jews had been expelled since 1290. He worked to get them permission to settle there again and thus hasten the Messiah's coming.

With the start of the Commonwealth, the question of the readmission of the Jews had found increased Protestant support, but it was often mooted under the growing desire for religious liberty. In addition, Messianic and other mystic hopes were then current in England. His book, the Hope of Israel, had first been published in Amsterdam in Hebrew (Mikveh Israel) and in Latin (Spes Israelis). In 1651 he offered to serve Christina, Queen of Sweden as her agent of Hebrew books. In 1652 his book was translated into English and published in London, prefixed with a dedication to the Parliament and the Council of State;  his account of descendants of the Lost Tribes being found in the New World deeply impressed public opinion and stirred up many polemics in English literature. Despite their historic misfortunes and movements, Menasseh characterizes the condition of Jewry at the time by saying:

“Hence it may be seen that God hath not left us; for if one persecutes us, another receives us civilly and courteously; and if this prince treats us ill, another treats us well; if one banisheth us out of his country, another invites us with a thousand privileges; as divers princes of Italy have done, the most eminent King of Denmark, and the mighty Duke of Savoy in Nissa. And do we not see that those Republiques do flourish and much increase in trade who admit the Israelites?"

Oliver Cromwell was sympathetic to the Jewish cause, partly because of his tolerant leanings but chiefly because he foresaw the importance for English commerce of the participation of the Jewish merchant princes, some of whom had already made their way to London. At this juncture, the English gave Jews full rights in the colony of Surinam, which they had controlled since 1650. There is some debate among historians, particularly Jewish historian Ismar Schorsch, concerning whether or not Menasseh’s personal motives for pursuing the readmission of the Jews by England were primarily political or religious. Schorsch argues that the idea of England being a final place for Jews to inhabit in order to bring about the coming of the Messiah was hardly present in Hope of Israel, but rather was developed by Menasseh later in order to appeal to English Christians with Millenarian beliefs.

In 1655, Menasseh arrived in London. During his absence from the Netherlands, the Amsterdam rabbis excommunicated his student, Baruch Spinoza. In London, Menasseh published his Humble Addresses to the Lord Protector, but its effect was weakened by William Prynne's publication of Short Demurrer. Cromwell summoned the Whitehall Conference in December of the same year.

Some of the most notable statesmen, lawyers, and theologians of the day were summoned to this conference to discuss whether the Jews should be readmitted to England. The chief practical result was the declaration of judges Glynne and Steele that "there was no law which forbade the Jews' return to England" (as they had been expelled by royal decree of King Edward I, and not by formal parliamentary action; Jews remaining in England lived, however, under constant threat of expulsion). Though nothing was done to regularize the position of the Jews, the door was opened to their gradual return. On December 14, 1655, John Evelyn entered in his Diary, "Now were the Jews admitted." When Prynne and others attacked the Jews, Menasseh wrote his major work, Vindiciae judaeorum (1656), in response.

Soon after Menasseh left London, Cromwell granted him a pension, but he died before enjoying it, at Middelburg in the Netherlands in the winter of 1657. He was conveying the body of his son Samuel home for burial.

His grave is in the Beth Haim of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, and the graves remain unscathed, with both headstone and gravestone intact.

Menasseh ben Israel was the author of many works. His major work Nishmat Hayim is a treatise in Hebrew on the Jewish concept of reincarnation of souls, published by his son Samuel six years before they both died. Some scholars think that he studied kabbalah with Abraham Cohen de Herrera, a disciple of Israel Saruk. This would explain his familiarity with the method of Isaac Luria.

The Conciliator was, as above, a work written to reconcile the apparent contradictions in numerous passages throughout the Bible. To achieve this aim, Ben Israel "utilized an astounding range of sources"; primarily the Talmud and the classic Jewish commentaries

but frequently quotes from the early Christian authorities as well as Greek and Latin authors of antiquity. Written in Spanish, in Amsterdam, 1632, it was aimed primarily to strengthen the faith of the Marranos in the veracity of the Tanach according to Jewish interpretation. It was translated by Elias Haim Lindo and published by Duncan and Malcolm, in 1842, and again in 1972, with footnotes and introductory material by Sepher-Hermon Press. 

History of the Jews in Madeira

The history of the Jews in Madeira spans the entire length of the history of Madeira itself, from Crypto-Jews to World War II evacuees. Like the Jews of mainland Portugal, Madeira jews are mainly related to Sephardi history, a Jewish ethnic division that represents communities who have originated in the Iberian Peninsula.

Manoel Dias Soeiro  better known by his Hebrew name Menasseh ben Israel (מנשה בן ישראל‎), was born in Madeira in 1604.

Menasseh was a Portuguese rabbi, kabbalist, writer, diplomat, printer, publisher, and founder of the first Hebrew printing press in Amsterdam in 1626.

In 1819, Jews from Morocco arrived to Madeira and set themselves up in the cloth and wine trades.

The Synagogue of Funchal, called Shaar Hashamain, located at 33 Rua do Carmo, Funchal, is no longer in use and is the only known synagogue that has ever existed in Madeira. The construction period was around 1836, believed to be updated around 1914 by architect Miguel Ventura Terra, as he designed the Lisbon Synagogue around the same time.

The Abudarham family from Gibraltar were involved in the Madeira wine industry from the early 1860s onwards. Rabbi David Zaguri became its spiritual leader in 1857.

Another period of immigration followed in the 20th century, with the arrival of refugees from the First and Second World Wars. The Jewish community also grew due to the Evacuation of the Gibraltarian civilian population during World War II to Madeira. Tito Benady, a historian on Gibraltar Jewry, noted that when some 200 Jews of the 2000 evacuees from Gibraltar were evacuated as non combatants to Funchal, at the start of World War II, they found a Jewish cemetery that belonged to the Abudarham family, the same family after whom the Abudarham Synagogue in Gibraltar was named. Some of these evacuees were buried in the Jewish Cemetery of Funchal, a burial ground that was built in 1851. The Jewish Cemetery of Funchal is located in Rua do Lazareto, Funchal. Sephardi Jews as well as Ashkenazi Jews are buried there. Thirty-eight graves in total. The last burial took place in 1976.

In 2013, Passover Seder was held in Madeira sponsored by Shavei Israel and was attended by Bnei Anousim or Crypto-jews.

Was Madeira’s Pioneer, João G. Zarco, Jewish?

There are discussions as to whether João Gonçalves Zarco, the Portuguese explorer who established settlements and recognition of the Madeira Islands, could have been of Jewish Converso origin. It is believed that Zarco was of a prominent Jewish family from Santarém and Lisbon.

Mossé Zarco was King João II's tailor. There was also a Portuguese doctor named Joseph Zarco, whom some authors claim to be Joseph Ibn Sharga, the great kabbalist, and a sixteenth-century poet named Yehuda Zarco. Authors known for making the claim that João Gonçalves Zarco was of Jewish ancestry are Augusto Mascarenhas Barreto and Manuel Luciano da Silva, who also suggest that Christopher Columbus could have been of Jewish descent from Portugal and his real name was Salvador Fernandes Zarco. Isabel Violante Pereira also attributes Jewish ancestry to João Gonçalves Zarco.

Tour 1 - Best of the East (Full-Day)

1^st... Explore Pico do Arieiro, the second highest summit on Madeira at 1,810 meters high, offering stunning views.

Most days, visitors can stand and look down on the clouds. The air is fresh and clear and the sun is very bright. On a clear day it is possible to see the neighbouring island of Porto Santo, 30 miles to the north. The footpath northwards towards Pico Ruivo is an important tourist attraction, with a daily average of 1000 tourists trekking on it. There is easy road access to the summit, with a large car park, a restaurant and souvenir shop. In 2011, an Air Defence Radar Station was built at the top of the mountain near the tourist facilities.

2^nd... Poiso is a stunning area surrounded by pine trees. There is a trail that will take you to a brook and an open area called Chão da Lagoa, which is a popular place for doing picnics and barbeques. After crossing the road, you’ll enter an upward trail that takes you to Pico do Areeiro. From this peak you’ll be able to observe Pico Ruivo, the Paul da Serra and all the central mountain peaks of Madeira. The descent is done through the Chão do Areeiro and the Environmental Education Course of Cabeço da Lenha. The return to your initial point (Poiso) is done by walking along the Levada do Blandy.

3^rd... Ribeiro Frio (Cold Stream in English) is a small village situated in the central mass of Madeira. It belongs to the parish of São Roque do Faial, the municipality of Santana , and is located around 15 kilometers from Funchal.

Here you can visit a trout hatchery and eat a grilled trout in the nearby restaurant. The little village is greatly visited by tourists as it is a starting point for many Levada walks. It is located 860 meters high, in a location surrounded by tall trees such as the laurel (Laurus novocanariensis) and heather undergrowth (Erica madeirensis). It is also populated by native birds of the island such as the Trocaz pigeon (trocaz pigeon), the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs madeirensis) and Madeira firecrest (Regulus madeirensis).

4^th... Santana, short form for Santa Ana (meaning Saint Anne) is a municipality situated on the northern coast of Madeira. Santana is best known for its enchanting red and white coloured A-shaped thatched dwellings. These were mainly rural homes, used by local farmers, during the settlement of the island.  Today, most of the surviving dwellings are tourist attractions.

While visiting Santana you ought to visit the Madeira Theme Park, which covers an area of about 28,000 m² of land. The aim of this park is to take you back to the island's early history. Here, you will also re-discover Madeiran culture in a unique way. This includes exhibits on the island's history, artifacts used in daily life and cultural presentations, in a scenic environment.

5^th... Faial is a civil parish in the Madeiran municipality of Santana located along the northern coast of the island of Madeira. It was founded on February 20, 1550 by settlers who named the area “Faial” due to numerous shrubs called Myrica faya, which are indigenous to the area, and that grew abundantly within the valleys between the mountains.

6^th...Porto da Cruz is a civil parish in the municipality of Machico in the northeastern tip of Madeira. The origin of the community's name came from the fact that the original discoverer affixed a steel cross at the port, in order to better identify the location to ocean travelers. During the early settlement of the northern coast, goods destined for the northern communities were offloaded in the harbor. Cultivation and harvesting of sugarcane occupied the activities of early settlers. The aguardente factory, completed after 1858, was part of this industry, converting the grapes and juice into a local spirit, uniquely cultivating the American caste of grape in this territory.

7^th... Portela, located between Porto da Cruz and Machico, provides one of the most beautiful landscapes of Madeira. At 670 meters, the viewpoint in Portela stands with its impressive rock formations. Here you will find magnificent scenery, with mountains that seem to flow down a valley towards the sea. 

8^th... Machico is a municipality, parish and city in the southeast part of Madeira.

The easternmost municipality on the island, it is also the third most populous area. The economy is focused on agriculture, tourism, and fishing, although a small number of businesses and commercial establishments have concentrated in the center of town. The main harbor is a mixture of personal and public uses, that includes a lighted promenade, scenic landscapes of the town, as well as a small harbor that is used as a fishing port and public harbor. Not far away you can dip yourself into the deep blue waters of the manmade sandy beach of Machico. Be sure to visit Pico do Facho before you embark on your next stop.

9^th... Santa Cruz, or Holy Cross, is a municipality, a parish and a city in the eastern part of the island of Madeira. It is the second most populous municipality of the island. It is located southeast of Santana, southwest of Machico and northeast of the capital city of Funchal. Santa Cruz is linked by an expressway to Funchal and Machico, as well as an ancillary road linking it to Santana. Agriculture and fishing are still considered the primary industries in this region, although widespread expansion of tourism in the south, and the development of the international airport has increased the number of commercial and tourist-related activities, primarily in the city of Santa Cruz.

10^th... Camacha is situated in the mountainous interior of the island, 3 km north of Caniço, 7 km northeast of Funchal and 6 km west of Santa Cruz. Achada is the centre of the parish of Camacha, a picturesque place where people who visit it often go to visit the Café Relógio with its tower and famous wicker work factory. There is also a large square, which was built for folklore performances and traditional festivities, as well as a children's playground and a small football field in homage to the place which provided the launch pad for the “king of sports” in our country. Interestingly, the son of William Hinton, Harry Hinton, was educated in England and as an 18-year-old student, brought the first football to Madeira in 1875. The first game of football in Portugal was played at the Hinton family quinta in Camacha at that time.