We have a very nice president, Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa. He is very popular, and could easily be re-elected, if this were not his last term. He is always affectionately called Marcelo in popular parlance. A man without pretensions who simply stands in line at the supermarket.
He received an honorary doctorate from the university in Pernambuco, Brazil
The president receives the title Doutor Honoris Causa from the Federal University of Pernambuco. The proposal to award the title was submitted by the Council of the Centre for Legal Sciences of the UFPE in recognition of the “remarkable academic and political career of the Portuguese head of state”. Marcelo is a professor of law at the University of Lisbon.
“The university feels very honored by this moment. Our community is happy and receptive,” says the rector of UFPE, Alfredo Gomes, to the journalist of DN Brasil.
I see it happening on the enormous TV that MEO has in its shop. I’m here to submit a request for the umpteenth time to please have a look at the connection, because it has been hopelessly rickety since the move in early January. I’ll not go into that now, because that nagging and dragging is a less pleasant subject for a blog on a Sunday morning.
Universities have quite strange habits. They are often housed in beautiful old buildings. That is very nice. That gives a historical perspective. On official occasions, their authorities usually still wear suits that date from the same period as the founding of the institute. And that is quite strange. It also gives perspective, but in a completely different way.
A bit like the Catholic Church – if you look at it soberly, it is at least quite strange that a group of old men in a long dress trimmed with lace, and a curtain made into a cape, with an openwork pointed hat on, address a crowd that takes it all very seriously. If you’re an alien, and you see this for the first time, you’d probably sit there stunned, with your eyes wide open in amazement.
Universities do the same thing when they award an honorary doctorate
Napoleonic headdresses, pointed caps or nightcaps, long coats, and preferably everything in dark colors. Black is the most popular, closely followed by dark grey and dark blue. In Brazil they have gone along with that European tone a bit, but since they have a sunnier nature there (and the people as well), they’ve taken a slightly more cheerful approach.
I couldn’t help laughing when, during the most solemn moments, the fringes of their hats swung back and forth merrily. The university professor a white lampshade plus shiny white gown, Marcelo a red lampshade with a beautiful deep red superman cape. The most beautiful thing is the knitting on the top that is directly copied from the traditional French alpine beret, and is thickened a bit to hide that.
What happens to you, when you have to wear such a lampshade with fringes in front of half the world’s population, but you have to pull a serious face, I wonder? He quickly took it off again; Marcelo is not a man of frills and fringes, I guess.
Not easy to receive an honorary doctorate in a dignified manner with a lampshade on your head, but he did it.
.
We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, Holland to the Termas-da-Azenha, Portugal.
A big step, especially with two small children.
We are busy to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa which has been turned into several holiday houses, rooms and a campsite.
You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere.
Since 2018 we call ourselves the first B&B&B in the world – Bed & Breakfast & Bathrobes. You can buy a home-made unique bathrobe/housecoat with us.
Each week a little blog about what is happening around us. An easy read. A few minutes in another world. A little about what it going on in Portugal. If you plan your holiday to Portugal, it might be a nice preparation
You can subscribe to this blog- see at the right side of this page »
You’ll get it every weekend in your mailbox.
On Sunday morning we publish it on Bluesky, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.