Despite the controversy surrounding the burning of the torches, which tonight – the eve of the last Sunday of August, the feast of the Blessed Sacrament – takes place in Machico, the city centre is filled with locals and outsiders hoping to witness the spectacle of ‘stuck fire’.
This aspect of the trapped fire was highlighted by José Nóbrega, a Funchal resident who was in Machico specifically to watch the torches being burned.
“This is not fire thrown into the air and it is also controlled”, he says, to justify the minimal risk of fire and to support the opinion that the tradition of torches should be followed, as expected.
“As it is done, there will be no problem,” he predicts. “It’s not even very windy,” adds his wife.
José Rodrigues, resident in Caniço, has the same opinion.
“If there is security and protection, I don’t see what the problem is,” observes the former emigrant.
As he is convinced that the event’s security is assured, he chose to be present at the Machique night, which promises to be very popular again.
The city’s seafront is one of the busiest places on this late afternoon before the centuries-old tradition.