21-26 February 2020 was the last big Carnival in Torres Vedras. This Carnival is said to be the "most portuguese Carnival of all carnivals in Portugal". It is non-stop partying, day and night, with thousands, if not millions of people visiting every year. Men dress like women, groups of people join to dress up acording to the theme of the year, there is a parade with kids from all schools in the municipality who dress up thematically, and there many other carnivalesque activities. The traditional protuguese saying "life is two days and Carnival is three days" does not apply anymore, as Carnival now lasts for 5 days. This Carnival is promoted by the Municipality of Torres Vedras who invest a great deal of money in the organisation of the event. In Cambelas, however, there is usually a smaller Carnival, organised spontaneously by some people in the village and very bottom-up. For the few years, many village characters appear by magic in the village corners. These represent distinctive people in the village and it is usually easy to identify who are the people characterised. These characters can be close together without the danger of catching Covid-19. Unlike the big parties in Torres Vedras which had to be cancelled in 2021 due to the large amounts of people packed like sardines and the huge risk ouf Covid-19 outbreaks, Cambelas' small, simple and spontaneous Carnival went ahead! The pandemic just proved that the small and simple can be good!
