According to the "Azinhal Legend," the bobbin lace have been born in this inner village, the fruit of a love tragedy. It is said that one day when passing through this region, a free rider fell in love with a beautiful princess, daughter of a wealthy nobleman who owned a lot of land in what is now Azinhal. The princess, she also passionate, demanded the handsome knight to renounce their ideals of freedom, to live together love. The rider, divided between its ideals of freedom and the voice of the heart, she ran to a mounted holm oaks and dug a golden dagger in the heart. In desperation, the beautiful princess have tried to entangle the blood count of your loved one with two sticks of rock rose, hoping that this return to live. This legend, which, according to local belief, is also at the origin of the village of Azinhal, is illustrative of the importance that the bobbin lace - or "bobbins" in Azinhal.

The Bobbin lace had a great expression in Castro Marim and Azinhal, without knowing for sure how this art, which originated in the Netherlands, came to our territory. The streets of this land, it was common to hear the lilting melody caused by the tinkling of bobbins dancing through the nimble fingers of lace makers. In skilled hands leaving beautiful works that supported the home economy: doilies or hairpieces for towels and curtains, which, in many cases, enriched the trousseau of land girls. Knowledge was, as today, transmitted from mothers to daughters, grandmothers to granddaughters, or between people of the same generation. Some began early, at an early age, others later, already in adulthood.

In “As Rendas de Bilros”, Jornal do Baixo Guadiana September 2013

Pedro Pires, Cultural Heritage Technician in NovBaesuris EM, SA