For whom the bells toll

Throughout Portugal, the bell is constantly linked with legends and literature. With Pagan origins, bells gained a sacred place in religious and popular culture, continuously through Judaism and Christianity. Bells have been accorded certain exorcising powers and prophylactic properties. In Europe, the Benedictine Rule and the spread of monasticism played a key role in affirming the use of bells, so that they became a defining characteristic of the Christian world, and both the landscape and soundscape of the European continent.