Relva is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Ponta Delgada Ponta Delgada (; ) is the largest municipality (''concelho'') and economic capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal. It is located on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous in the archipelago. As of 2021, it has 67,28 ...

in the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

archipelago of the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

. The population in 2011 was 3,006, in an area of .Eurostat
/ref> It contains the localities Nordela and Relva.

History

The area of Relva was pristine forest and unoccupied grasslands, virgin fields, where the first explorers discovered forests of laurel,

common holly Brigitte Naggar, better known by her stage name Common Holly, is a Canadian musician from Montreal, Quebec. As Common Holly, Naggar has released two full-length albums. History Naggar's first album, ''Playing House'', was released in 2017. The a ...

, Portuguese laurel and

Juniperus brevifolia ''Juniperus brevifolia'', the Azores juniper, is a species of juniper, endemic to the Azores (on Corvo, Faial, Flores, Pico, Santa Maria, São Jorge, São Miguel, and Terceira), where it occurs at altitudes of , rarely up to . It is close ...

, interspersed by local

Vaccinium ''Vaccinium'' is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whort ...

. The region, which extends to the border with Santa Clara and Feteiras, became a place where the pigs sent ashore by the first settlers congregated, and where many of nobles of

Vila Franca do Campo Vila Franca do Campo () is a town and municipality in the southern part of the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese Autonomous Region of the Azores. The population of the municipality was 11,229 in 2011, in an area of 77.97 km². The town ...

hunted. Travelling by boat to the shore Santa Clara, these hunters would disembark and spend several days hunting for the semi-feral pigs, then returned to the settlements with their prizes. Slowly, the region began to be occupied by the first families, houses, fields and estates, developing the community of Ponta Delgada, and encroaching on the unspoiled lands to the west. As

Gaspar Frutuoso Gaspar Frutuoso (c.1522 in Ponta Delgada – 1591 in Ribeira Grande) was a Portuguese priest, historian and humanist from the island of São Miguel, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. His major contribution to Portuguese history was hi ...

wrote: :''"...the locality of Relva, obtained its name, because in the olden times there existed this good weed, and there it used to be called commonly Relva; and the residents of the city ordered send to this part, in that field, their cattle, because that they thought was good food for them, telling their children and shepherds that brought their bulls to Relva, now its courtyard."'' Eventually, farmers began to graze their herds in the region where they encountered lands with thick grasses: ''relva'', the

word for ''grass'', as the region became known, was used to describe this place, because this settlers found plenty of this ''boa erva'' ( pt, good weed). The first settlers, where likely farmers and shepherds, integrally linked to the land, although no records identify the peoples. The locality of Relva became more of a reality as settlers concentrated around the estates of Martim Vaz, a celebrated nobleman and local receiver (who collected the rents from the local

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

s). Vaz was relatively important, since his name was attached to improvements made to the local fountain (which was near the sea), an important landowner and for his construction of the first temple in the parish, dedicated to ''Nossa Senhora das Neves''. His role in the parish is reflected in the local toponymy: the church was once referred to as the ''Igreja do Contador da Relva'' (''Church of the Receiver of Relva''), the fountain that he repaired the ''Fonte do Contador'' and a local grotto, the ''Grota do Contador'', who were named in respect for Martim Vaz.

Geography

Relva is situated on the southern coast of São Miguel, surrounded by

Arrifes Arrifes is a civil parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada on the island of São Miguel in the Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in ...

, Covoada and

Capelas Capelas (; Portuguese for ''chapels'') is a civil parish along the northern coast of the municipality of Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2011 was 4,080, in an area of .DRAC (2010), p.34

Culture

The actual parochial church celebrates a festival in honour of ''Our Lady of the Snows'' on the first Sunday of August.

References

Notes

Sources

* {{authority control Parishes of Ponta Delgada