history
In the village of Camacha, a parish in the municipality of Santa Cruz, in Madeira, the Apple Festival is held annually, now in its thirty-ninth edition. It is a festival dedicated to apple production and local traditions, with gastronomy, music and cultural showcases that bring the community together around what the land produces.
The festival also includes a traditional Pilgrimage Festival in honour of the patron saint, Santa Cruz, a moment when local devotion is expressed and the religious traditions of the region are kept alive. These festivities, combining religious celebration and community gathering, form part of a set of well-preserved traditions in Camacha and Santa Cruz.
about the place
Perched on the high slopes of the municipality of Santa Cruz, the village of Camacha is one of those places in Madeira that lives with one foot in the sky and the other in tradition, between the mountain mist and the generous green of the fields. Here, the sound of willow shoots being bent made wicker craftsmanship the signature of the parish, alongside the colourful costumes, dances and music that refuse to surrender to the hurry of modern times. It was also in these fields that, in 1875, the first football match in Portugal was played, a curiosity that fills those who live here with pride. At the table, skewered meat on bay laurel sticks reigns supreme, alongside warm bolo do caco and cider born from the region's orchards. Camacha is all this: wicker and devotion, skewered meat and cider, mountains and memory — a discreet pearl of the highlands that deserves to be discovered with time and with soul.
