The “Pintar e Cantar dos Reis” — a manifestation of culture, knowledge and popular traditions in Alenquer
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This article examines Pintar e Cantar dos Reis in the municipality of Alenquer, Portugal, as an expression of intangible cultural heritage and as a community-based practice that combines ritual, visual inscription, vocal performance, intergenerational knowledge and territorial development. Based on a qualitative documentary and critical review, the study discusses the Portuguese national inventory record, the ethnographic work by Sousa and Silva (2016), UNESCO normative frameworks and recent literature on living heritage, cultural tourism, digital communication, social cohesion and local development. The article argues that the value of this practice lies not in its conversion into a spectacle, but in its capacity to annually reactivate a local grammar of belonging during Twelfth Night, through the participation of singers, painters, families, façades, streets and shared memories. The practice links singing, painting, blessing, secrecy, gift exchange and the symbolic recognition of households, demonstrating the complexity of popular traditions as living knowledge systems. Heritage recognition may support local economies, cultural education, tourism attractiveness and place-based identity if it remains participatory, community-centred and alert to the risks of commodification. The article concludes that the future of Pintar e Cantar dos Reis depends on combining safeguarding, intergenerational transmission, continuous research, public interpretation and sustainable regional development.
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