The Rooster of Barcelos is one of the most beloved symbols of Portugal! (many will say is a idiotic one or even of bad taste, other just adore him and is common to see this little guy everywhere in the country, as small clay statues to decorate all the housewife ovens, pocket chains, pins or mugs for breakfast! You name it and he is there!)
The proud black and red rooster has it's origins in the village of Barcelos on a legend of a rooster that came back to life after was dead and already cooked!!... (lucky one, enh?!)

According to the legend, silver had been stolen from a landowner in Barcelos, and the inhabitants of that city were looking for the criminal who had committed the crime. One day, a man from neighboring Galicia turned up and became suspect, despite his pleas of innocence. The Galician swore that he was merely passing through Barcelos on a Pilgrimage to Santiago of Compostela to complete a promise.

Nevertheless, the authorities arrested the Galician and condemned him to be hang. The man asked them to take him in front of the judge who had condemned him. The authorities honored his request and took him to the house of the magistrate, who was holding a banquet with some friends. Affirming his innocence, the Galician pointed to a roasted rooster on top of the banquet table and exclaimed, "It is as certain that I am innocent as it is certain that this rooster will crow when they hang me." The judge pushed aside his plate because he decided to not eat the rooster. But still, the judge ignored the Galician's appeal.

 

However, while the pilgrim was being hanged, the roasted rooster stood up on the table and crowed as the Galician predicted. Understanding his error, the judge ran to the gallows, only to discover that the Galician had been saved from hanging thanks to a poorly made knot in the rope. The man was immediately freed and sent off in peace.

Some years later, the Galician returned to Barcelos to sculpt the Calvary (or Crucifix) to the Lord of the Rooster (Portuguese, "Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo") in praise to the Virgin Mary and to Saint James. The monument is located in the Archeological Museum of Barcelos. This legend has some variations, but the essential is exactly as above.

The 17th-century calvary can still be see at the Archeological Museum of Barcelos in Paço dos Condes, a gothic-style palace in Barcelos, a city in the Braga District of northwest Portugal.

Zé Povinho is a Portuguese everyman created in 1875 by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro. He became first a symbol of the Portuguese working-class people, and eventually into the unofficial personification of Portugal.

"Zé", in Portuguese, is a common short form of the name "José" - as "Joe" is for "Joseph", in English - and "Povinho" is a diminutive for "Povo", which means "people".

The first appearance of Zé Povinho was in 22 May 1875, in "A Lanterna Mágica" magazine, although that

appearance did not attribute him with a name. He was named in the 6 December 1875 issue of the same magazine. Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro kept drawing this character throughout his lifetime (nearly another 30 years); the drawings were published in many of the more popular magazines and newspapers such as "O António Maria", "A Paródia", "O Commércio do Porto Illustrado" and "Pontos nos iis".

Povinho is a well-regarded, kindly man who lives simply, and is regularly depicted as mocking the powerful. He is not a figure of authority but rather a simple man of the people, acting as a tool of criticism against the powerful, the political and elitist fringes of the society, injustice and tyranny.

Zé Povinho became, and still is, a popular character in Portugal. Being drawn as a country laborer led to some aversion and denial from the Portuguese people to be represented as such. Yet his kindness, his will to help others and, most of all, his utter contempt and disrespect for the powerful ones that try to dominate him, made him popular. He ridicules the powerful, laughs at them, and then carries on with his simple life but has the same attitude towards the people's own weaknesses and prejudices.

(Wikipedia)

All cultures and all countries in the world have popular proverbs that are passed down from generation to generation and even are assimilated by other cultures, in Portugal this is no different.
Down here we will put a small list from the hundreds that possibly exists.
We will describe to you what witch one means in future posts to be, one by one...meanwhile here they are translated for you!
By k

now you can use your imagination to figure out what some of those really mean! :)

- One hand washes the other and both washes the face.

- Better a taste than six pennies.

- Grain by grain fills the hen her belly.

- Bygone waters, don't move mills.

- Who has glass roofing should not throw stones at the neighbor's.

- Idleness is the mother of all vices.

- What has no solution, is already solved.

- Dog bitten by a snake is afraid even of a string.

- Who wants goes, who doesn't want nothing is the boss.

- In wartime, any hole is a trench.

- One should not undress a saint to dress up another.

- Hunger is the best sauce.

- The harsh of many is comfort to others.

- The worse blind are those who will not see.

- No one is a prophet in his own land.

- Very poorly eats who suppers on others people hand.

- Hard with hard does not make a good wall.

- When God wants, cold water is medicine.

- Just as the King lives, live his vassals.

- Two eyes see more than one.

- The fox goes so much to the nest that one day she will leave there her muzzle.

- Do not mock of the bad luck of thy neighbor, for yours comes their way.

- Give orders who can, obey who has sense.

- The presumption is the mother of all blunders.

- When one donkey speaks, the other lower their ears.

- Big fish, are caught in large rivers.

- Who tells a tale adds it a point.

- Who never ate molasses, licks up when they eat.

- Revenge is a dish best served cold.

- When the cat's away from home the mice roam.

- Better who God helps than those who get up early.

- Who speaks to much, gives good day on horse back.

- A bad sheep puts to lose the herd.

- If you want to know a villain puts a stick on his hand.

- God give me patience and a cloth to wrap it up.

- The eye of the owner is what fattens the horse.

- Iron that is not used, rust spends it.

- For those who can read, a drop is letter.

Soon we will bring you much more :) in PT Style!