Outdoor Rec gives Lajes Airmen an opportunity to travel back in time

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Zachary Wolf | Everyone takes part in a traditional meal after stomping the grapes during the Biscoitos Vineyard Festival in Biscoitos, Terceira, Sept. 6, 2014. Members from Lajes Air Field ate and talked to Portuguese locals to share in their culture and learn more about this island. Plates were replaced by fig leaves and traditional food was served.  

PORTUGAL

09.06.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Zachary Wolf  

65th Air Base Group

PORTUGAL - With today's fast paced world, filled with technology, people can forget how hard and fun things used to be. Airmen and their families from Lajes saw a perfect example of this. While no time machines were actually used, Outdoor Recreation took them to the Biscoitos Vineyard Festival on Sept. 6, 2014, where locals dressed in traditional clothing and invited attendees to join them to travel behind an ox cart to the vineyard to collect grapes, like it was done many years ago.

"Today is the Biscoitos Vineyard Fest," said Luis Bettencourt, 65th Force Support Squadron Outdoor Recreation aid. "We left the base, we came here to the wine museum, and we followed the ox the vineyards where everybody had the chance to pick up the grapes, put them into the baskets and then load them up into the ox cart."

Everyone sang traditional Portuguese songs as they followed the ox cart back to the wine museum to stomp grapes.

"It was an awesome experience," said Capt. Andrea Jackson, 65th FSS deputy commander. "The gentlemen placed the grapes in a huge vat. We all washed our feet and then we jumped in, and as the music was playing, we were able to jump around and dance to the music and smash the grapes. Just seeing the smiles on people's faces and to have the music playing, it was just a really good experience."

After the grape stomping, everyone was invited to a traditional meal, where blood sausage and fried mackerel were served on a fig leaf with a side of wine.

Outdoor Recreation offers trips like these to help Airmen experience the island culture.

"It just helps you learn," Jackson said. "It's different than reading a book or looking up a country on the internet versus actually going out and immersing yourself into the community. It just gives you another venue to learn more and go a bit deeper."

To the Azorean folk group, that is what it is all about.

"Above all, it's to show everyone, including the military who live on base, that the island of Terceira is very rich in culture," said Bruno Bettencourt, a folk music guitarist. "There are a lot of cultural events that we do on the island, and it's important for those who are visiting to search for those events and to be involved in them."

The scene was one of smiling faces, as Americans talked and ate with Portuguese. The festival provided the Lajes Airmen and their families memories that they can take with them and share with others.

"I love to talk, so one of the first things I'll do when I get back to work is go and share this experience with my Portuguese co-workers," Jackson said. "It's just great to share things you know that they do year after year, but for us it's a new experience, so it's just really nice to have those conversations with our local nationals."

These memories are why the Portuguese on the Azores Islands do what they do.

"One of the most important things for a person who belongs to a local folklore group is to be able to share; not only the music with everyone, but also the attire of the old tradition that we used on the island," Bruno Bettencourt said. "When we see others participating in these events, even though they are not familiar with them, such as the Americans, we really enjoy to see that and to share our culture with them."

The traditional songs had themes of work and how life used to be and are similar to the folk songs of the early United States.

"Without mentioning the names of the songs, they are tunes from the island," Bruno Bettencourt said. "Some of them, they talk about the everyday life of people that live on the island, such as work, love and many of course, talk about the vineyard. But the majority (of them) are about everyday life."

There are plenty of opportunities to experience the culture of the island.

"Today was awesome," Jackson said. "It gave us the opportunity to really immerse ourselves in the culture here. We got to find out how they grow the grapes, how they collect them, how they make their wine and we got to try out their traditional food. I'm really appreciative of the community for letting us have a hands-on experience. It was really great."

• Date Taken: 09.06.2014
• Date Posted: 09.18.2014 11:10
• Story ID: 142532
• Location: PT