Events

Through the streets of the city of Ribeira Grande (São Miguel – Azores), one of the most traditional and curious festivals in the region takes place: the Cavalhadas, which take place on St. Peter's Day. The festival includes a parade on horseback, which seems to have been inspired by medieval tournaments. The knights, spearmen, stewards and buglers dressed in white with red capes and sashes, mounted on horses, gather near the Manor of Mafoma, an eighteenth-century house, and begin a cavalcade to the sound of bugles, behind the "king" or chieftain, a character with a long beard.

The Cavalhadas attract many of the inhabitants of the rest of the island and the archipelago to the locality, as well as foreign visitors.