Bell Traditions

“SIGNVM”. Latin word used between the 16th and 17th centuries with the double meaning of symbol or sign, which gave rise to the word sino (meaning “bell”) in some neo-Latin languages, such as Portuguese. The bell is an integral part of the cultural landscape and soundscape of the Western world. Although it is a material artefact, this exhibition presents the bell from an intangible perspective. Indeed, the Cultural and Immaterial Heritage Convention (Paris, 2003) acknowledges this interdependence between the material and the immaterial. Accordingly, the exhibition aims to present a record of the intangible value of Portugal’s bell tradition, through a visit that explores the techniques used for casting bells, often passed on from generation to generation, as well as manual bell ringing. It also looks at how the bell acquired a sacred and apotropaic character in the common mind as a regulator of customs and popular imagination.

The “art of casting” bells is an ancient practice. Despite the scarcity of archaeological remains in Portugal, there are some examples that date from the 10th century, especially in the north of the country. By the turn of the 18th century, following changes in techniques and design materials, two main models of bell were developed: the bowl type (shallow and without a clapper, struck from the outside); and the deep type (conical or honeycomb shape with a clapper inside). These bells could be modelled according to three techniques: a horizontal modelling with a fake bell in wax, produced mostly in the medieval period; horizontal modelling with a fake bell in clay, which facilitated the manufacture of larger bells; and vertical bell modelling with clay, used in Portugal from the 14th century. This ancient activity became industrialized, leading to the loss of its artisanal character. The limitations of the internal market and the change of mentality seen after the end of the New State (1933-1974) in Portugal, led to the end of regular production and the extinction of many bell foundries. Therefore, we have witnessed the loss of an existing ethnographic environment based around bells.

Manual bell ringing is in decline due to the progressive mechanization of bells since the 1980s, and the consequent loss of many bell ringers. Thus, it is a fragile intangible heritage whose techniques and practices are disappearing. The bell was once the main regulator of community life. Its sound marked three stages of the day: at dawn, the ringing of the ‘Hail Mary’; at noon, the ‘Angelus’; and in the evening, the 'Trinities'. Bell ringing also signalled liturgical acts, such as Masses, rosaries, processions, weddings, funerals and bells for the departed. Thus, bell ringing awakened individual and collective emotions. Bell ringing was an expression of an individual's social position. Thus, the number of times the bells tolled for a birth, marriage or death varied depending on the amount paid to the bell ringer, Bells were also rung for functional reasons such as invitations to civil events or warnings of the occurrence of fires, shipwrecks, wolf attacks, punishment of thieves and other threats to the community. The remaining bell tolls, which animated the soundscape on specific occasions, have now been virtually forgotten, remaining only in the memory of the elderly.

Throughout Portugal, the bell is constantly linked with legends and literature. It may be used to aid a good birth, but may also be found lying buried in a lake or river, chiming in the bowels of the earth to denounce the «enchanted Moors». Attention should also be drawn to the exorcising power of bells against evil entities such as witches, ghosts and demons. According to popular belief, as the death knell sounded, the more the bell rang, the further the Devil fled. It was also believed that the sound of the bell could cure diseases of the ‘head’ and hearing, and it was common for a godfather to ring the bell so that his godchild would not go deaf. Bells have often been a source of pride, becoming an object of envy. Any attempt to steal or destroy them is thus traditionally seen as an affront to the honour and integrity of the community. Documentation from northern Portugal and Galicia shows the term sub-sino (meaning “under the bell”) used as a synonym for parish. Historically, there is indeed a sense of a heritage and legacy to pass on. There is a pressing need to preserve the artisanal skills involved in traditional casting techniques and manual bell ringing. It is up to the present age of industrialized bells to value the intangible significance of these objects so that their meaning is never lost.