Contim — Wikipedia

Contim , sometimes called Contin from Rio , is a parish Portuguese of the municipality of Montalegre in the district of Vila Real.

The Freduesia (parish) includes the villages of Contim, Sao Pedro and Vilaça within it. The total population of the “Freduesia” is evaluated at 200 inhabitants, outside the summer periods, during which the quadruple population.

The very village of Contim is one of the least populated in the municipality of Montalègre, with a dozen permanent inhabitants at most. In summer, its population became one of the most important of all the Freguesias de Montalègre, with a peak of 250 people in 2003.

Like all the villages of the Municipality of Montalègre, Contim has experienced a strong exodus of its population; A traditional emigration to France accelerated in the 1960s, then intensified in the 1980s, especially towards Ile de France and Brittany. Also note part of the population that emigrated to the United States or the capital, Lisbon.

Nowadays, the Population of Contim is one of the oldest in Concelho, with an average age exceeding 50 years.

The village of Contim is located in a peninsula of the municipality of Montalgre, connected to the city by the construction of the two dams in the 1960s: the Sezelhe dam and the Pisoes dam. Before the village was connected to the city by its dams, the inhabitants took the winding paths of the mountain, or circulated via the rivers in the raft.

Despite its low situation in valley, the village of Contim culminates more than 700 meters above sea level.

The continental -type climate with oceanic influences, is the typical climate in northern Portugal. Hot and dry summers, accompanied by torrential rains 5 days out of 30 in August, as well as harsh winters. During the 2003 heat wave, temperatures ranging beyond 46 degrees in the sun were recorded. In winter, snow falls abundantly, and as in all the villages of Montalègre, it happens that the snowfall continues until April.

Successively located in the area of ​​Roman, Sweet and Visigothic influence, Contim and its surroundings did not suffer the Moorish raids which took place in the region between VIII ^{It is} And X ^{It is} centuries. Incorporated into the kingdom of Leon, the region very quickly became Portuguese under the leadership of Afonso Henriques, the first legendary king of Portugal since his historic victory of Ourique over the Arabs.

Founded at the end of the Middle Ages, the village of Contim does not really have a historical weight reference. Nevertheless, according to the testimonies and the saying of the oldest, the appearances of local saints were listed between the XVII ^{It is} century and the end of the Second World War, notably preventing the inhabitants of Contim and the surroundings of dangers of all types. A source, “A Fonte Carvalha” was developed at the start of XX ^{It is} century with the image of one of these appearances, which would have manifested itself around 1910 at young village shepherds.

On a more official level, the oldest vestige in the village remains, as for many Freduesias, its church, rebuilt at the start of XIX ^{It is} century. Since 2004, it has been refurbished thanks to the precious donations of the inhabitants of the village and the surrounding villages.

Each year, as in each Freguesia de Montalègre, the village’s annual celebration takes place, which intervenes at the start of the second week of August. This religious holiday is very important for continenses and allows, for a day, to bring together all the inhabitants of the Freduesia de Contim.

The particularity of Contim facing other villages is the absence of a popular party with music and banquets. Indeed, since the strong emigration of the 1970s and 80s, there are no more parties proper. The latest took place in 2000, coinciding with the fact that since that date, the village has experienced at least one death per year.

Faced with a third wave of emigration which occurred in the late 1990s (Spain and Andorra), the “wooden chegas” (ox fighting) organized each year in the village have now disappeared. Only remains, the day of the village festival, a tournament “do jogo do vinte” sort of barrosa pétanque which consists in bringing an iron tube to fall with an disc of 500 to 1,000 grams of the same substance. The fall of the tube is equivalent to 6 points, the closest disc to 4 points. But there too, the rules and the count of points change from village to village.

For a few years (1980-2000), the youngest established football matches with neighboring villages, during these summer periods, especially in front of the villages of Sao Pedro, Vilaça and Fiaes. The aging of the local population and the emigration of the youngest stopped these meetings.

A training project for a local football club is underway.

The latest traditional activities are hunting and fishing. The numerous forest fires in recent years have scared animals and have dried up the few water points, which are now counted on the fingers of one hand. In the 1960s and 70s, we could identify dozens of ponds and ponds.

A current rural legend implies that there would be more dogs than men to Contim, which is not completely false. In addition to this rather comical aspect of the village, fauna is represented by the high proportion of cattle, sheep and poultry (as in all the Villages of the Concelho). Outside the village, we most often identify foxes or lynx. As for wild boars and wolves, they have almost disappeared from the vicinity of the village, due to the modernization of Contim.

The flora consists of fern french fir trees, pines and bushes. The blackberries and raspberries, as well as mint, grow in abundance in the rich cultivated land of the village. A more traditional agriculture of potatoes, cabbage and corn, is also very important.