Boticas, in the heart of Barroso, displays remarkable traces of antiquity, such as numerous Iron Age hill forts and the largest group of statues of Castro warriors on the Peninsula, all bearing witness to an organised society rich in agricultural and mineral resources. The exploitation of these mines attracted Roman interest, integrating the region into the Conventus Bracaraugustanus as early as the 1st century BC, through agreements formalised in the Tesserae (or tabulae hospitalis), which symbolised an equal relationship between local Castro leaders and representatives of the Empire.
Boticas went back 2000 years for another edition of Festa Castreja.
It is this historical concord that the Festa Castreja, formerly the Hospitium Barrosorum - Barroso Pact, aims to evoke: recreating a space of coexistence between Castrejos and Romans, with scenes and activities that emphasise the characteristic hospitality of Barroso - reflected even in the Greco-Roman origin of the term hospitium.
The festival animated the forest park next to the Hillfort of Carvalhelhos, on 8 and 9 June, with historical re-enactments, street entertainment, gastronomy, ancient arts workshops, music and a hike.
Tiago Rodrigues
Born in Lisbon, he left the capital for a village in Barroso, where he has developed projects with various local institutions. He is a graphic designer and art editor at UMinho Editora. In 2017, he founded Terra Callaeci, a project dedicated to the promotion of the cultural landscape of Trás-os-Montes, as a construction of the people who inhabited (and inhabit) it.