Every length of Burel begins on a spring morning in Serra da Estrela, when the flock gives up its winter coat.
Waiting for the right day
Shearing happens once a year, when spring has started to warm the lower slopes of the mountain and the sheep are ready to be rid of a fleece that kept them alive through the winter. The day is chosen with care, and the weather is watched closely: wool cannot be cut wet, so a night of rain is enough to make a shepherd uneasy. Work starts before sunrise, while the air is still cool and the animals are calm.
A blessing before the blades
In many villages, the shearing still opens with a small ritual. Rosemary that has been blessed is burned so its smoke drifts over the flock, the sign of the cross is made, and the patron saints are asked to protect the animals. Once the first cut is made, the shearers often sing as they work: short verses about the task at hand and thanks for good wool and a healthy flock.
How a fleece comes off
The sheep are sheared in order of age, oldest first. The first stroke runs along the back; from there the shearer works from head to tail, turning around the body so the fleece comes away as one piece. The shepherd's favourite animals are sometimes left with a small tuft at the tip of the tail, a quiet mark of affection.
When the flock is done, the shearer calls the sheep one by one and closes the day by tracing a cross over them. He washes his hands in water steeped with mallow or clover while the others mark each animal and fasten its bell back around its neck. Lighter and cooler, the flock is free to return to the hills.
Sorting the wool
The fleece is sorted on the spot, quickly but carefully. Wool from different parts of the body is separated, and so are the colours: white, black and the warm natural brown the shepherds call sarrubeco. Raw wool is heavy with earth, plant matter and lanolin — so much that the dirt can outweigh the fibre itself — so it is washed before it goes anywhere. Then it is pressed into bales for sale, though most shepherds hold some back to have blankets and clothes made for their own families.
Why it matters to us
Shepherding in Serra da Estrela is as old as the region's written history, and the shearing has changed remarkably little over the generations. The writer Ferreira de Castro called it the land of wool and snow. It is a way of life that works with the mountain rather than against it, and the wool it produces carries that knowledge with it.
When we choose Portuguese wool, we are also choosing to support the shepherds and the communities who keep this relationship with the land alive. Every MMARO piece in Burel starts here, with one fleece, taken by hand, on a spring morning.