THE CONTEXT
For my parents and the majority of Azoreans, life in São Miguel is precarious and very difficult in the 1940-1950’s. Men, mostly peasants, camponeses (more than 95 %), would go everyday to various street corners looking for work in one of the small land lots around Ribeira Grande and the many villages of the island. Landlords who need some workers would go there and pick some. The most desperate and hungry ones would put some piece of clothing over their shoulders. In doing so, they express their extreme need for work and food. Most of them return home without any luck, with their hoe, o sacho, on their shoulder, and quite depressed...
The lack of work is really spread out across São Miguel, the Azores and Portugal. They are all suffering from a deep economic crisis. A presentation made in March 1952 at the National Assembly in Lisbon by Armando Cândido, the Ponta Delgada district deputy, confirms my father’s words. According to Pedro Cymbron's study, every peasant works an average of 92 days per year, 85 % of Azorean peasants get paid an average of 3.5 months every year.
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The daily menu is quite limited when you work, but without work, feeding a family becomes a real challenge for all. Even when working long hours, the peasant or camponês earns very little, about 5 escudos per day in the end of
the 1940s and some 15 escudos in the mid 1950s (about 50 cents). Under these conditions, it is very difficult to make a living.
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During winter, life gets worst, the ocean is dangerous and fishing is often very risky. There can be weeks without people being able to buy fish. When available, fish is preserved in salt.
This picture, more than anything, explains a lot about the context that led many Azoreans to look for better places to live in the 1950s...
My father (3rd from left), with two of his friends that will emigrate with him, Manuel Pascoal, left, and Jacinto Almeida, center. Three of the four men are without shoes.
Ponta do Cintrão, Ribeirinha, São Miguel
MY FATHER OFTEN SAYS: "HOW CAN YOU PLAN A LIFE IF EACH MORNING YOU DON’T KNOW IF YOU ARE GOING TO WORK OR NOT?"
O sacho, the hoe used by peasants to work the land
in São Miguel and the whole archipelago.
