Braga Romana 2026, Day 3

ByJoanne McLernon

Day 3 – Friday

Today was HOT so we didn’t do as much. The only thing we made time for was the big parade in the evening. And that was a good choice, I now have a much better sense of how parades work here. Maybe this is how parades work everywhere, and I just haven’t attended many? I don’t know. It was group after group in costume and holding banners or signs, some of them school groups, some church, and many reenactment guilds from the festival. The costumes were great, it’s like all of Braga turns out to cosplay being Roman. It occurs to me that they don’t do Halloween here, so this is their big costume blowout.

Anyway, on to some parade pictures. I took way more videos this time, but I can’t embed those here.

Parade opening
A Roman phalanx formation!
I really don’t know why they’re carrying a pillar with a modern inscription, but the visual is interesting.
Unclear what antler guy’s role is but I am here for his costume!
This looks like a school group that also has a specific reenactment area, the Bracari.
Oooh, women soldiers! I don’t know if it’s meant to be historically accurate or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

All right, I’m going to attempt to embed one short video. It’s the finale with some kickass drummers. I love the kids at the front, between the little girl whose hands are clearly not quite ready for this, and the little boy with surprisingly great rhythm for one so young. As they start to move forward you can see the police bringing up the rear and the spectators falling in behind them. This was a great parade, I’m going to get an even better view next year and try to learn more about the groups involved.

Similar Posts