The Chapel of São Gonçalinho is located next to the channels of the Ria de Aveiro, in the Beira Mar district of Aveiro city. It was built in 1714 under the invocation of São Gonçalo, who was attributed the power to cure bone diseases and solve marital problems.
If you want to know more about this chapel, we recommend a visit on the Sunday closest to the 10th of January of every year, where the inhabitants carry out the festivities in honor of São Gonçalinho. These festivities are related to the payment or fulfillment of the promises made by the faithful to the Saint, thus consisting in throwing cavacas from the side corridor at the top of the chapel towards the crowd that is at the bottom waiting to catch them by hand or using some tools. At the end, they eat on site or take this typical city delicacy home. At this time, hundreds of kilos of cavacas are launched from this chapel for those visiting for leisure, custom or by chance during the days of this festivity. In addition to the cavacas that are thrown to visitors and faithful outside the chapel, two phenomena to highlight take place inside, the delivery of the branches to the butlers in charge of the pilgrimage of the following year and the ritual of the lame dance performed by a group of men pretending to be lame or people with physical disabilities who dance to the sound of popular songs sung by themselves.
The chapel of São Gonçalinho is one of the cultural and historical monuments of the city of Aveiro that is well worth visiting at any time of the year, thus allowing you to learn a little more about the culture of the people of Aveiro.
