Missas do Parto

What it is

The Missas do Parto are a set of nine Masses said in the days leading to Christmas, one each morning, in the parishes of Madeira, an island region of Portugal. Portuguese speakers call them Missas do Parto, which means Childbirth Masses. They are a devotion to Mary, and each one carries her nearer to the birth of Jesus. The title she is given here at this time is Our Lady of Ó, or Our Lady of Birth. The cycle closes with the Mass of the Rooster, kept late on Christmas Eve, which honours the child's birth.

Origins and history

The custom is old and written down. Records place it at least as far back as the start of the 1700s. On 17 December the Church keeps the Expectation of Our Lady, a day given in Madeira to Our Lady of Ó, and the antiphons prayed at Vespers run from then until the 24th. Madeira's nine Masses grew from that. According to the sources, the Madeiran practice grew out of devotions to the Christ Child kept in northern Portugal in the 18th and 19th centuries. The hour of the Masses may echo the night of the Nativity, or suit farmers who rose early in any case.

How the mornings go

A parish holds one Mass a day for the nine days, most beginning on 16 December and a few already on the 15th. Times are early, usually somewhere between five and seven in the morning, and the churches fill; attendance is high. A choir leads, and everyone present joins the songs written for the season. When the service ends, the crowd moves into the churchyard and stays a while. In some places fireworks are set off, though that has become less common.

Food, drink and song

After the service the churchyard becomes the gathering place. Neighbours share what they have brought: cocoa served hot, coffee, liqueurs, poncha, the Christmas sweets of the season, and small sandwiches filled with carne de vinha d'alhos. Singing starts up, and people form groups around the musicians. The instruments are the island's own: the braguinha, which is also called the machete, the rajão, the pandeiro, castanets, the small pipe known as the pife, the bombo drum, and at times a harmonica or bagpipes.

What it means

For the people who keep them, the nine mornings are both prayer and neighbourhood. The Masses honour a mother in the final stretch of pregnancy and the child about to arrive, and the last of the cycle turns to his birth. The playful half matters too: the reunion in the churchyard, the food carried from home, the songs, the instruments. Madeirans who have moved abroad keep the custom where they settle, and the parishes at home still count these mornings among the busiest of the year.

How Missas do Parto is kept

Nine days, one Mass each morning, in the parish churches of Madeira. Most parishes start on 16 December; some begin on the 15th, and the run ends on Christmas Eve. The services are early, often between five and seven. A choir and the congregation sing the songs of the season. Afterwards everyone gathers in the churchyard to eat, drink, talk and sing, with local instruments played and groups forming. Fireworks are let off in some places, less often than before. Late on Christmas Eve comes the Mass of the Rooster.

When and where

The cycle belongs to December. It opens on 16 December in most parishes, though a few begin a day earlier, and it closes on the 24th as Christmas arrives. Nine Masses fill the nine days. Times vary between churches, but the hour is early, generally between five and seven in the morning.

Every parish of Madeira, the autonomous region of Portugal, holds the nine Masses, so this is an island-wide custom rather than one belonging to a single town. Catholics who left the island and settled elsewhere also keep it. Its strongest hold remains in Madeira, in village churches and town parishes alike.

What Missas do Parto means

The nine Masses are a waiting. They stay with Mary through the last days of her pregnancy and end when the child is born; the title she carries here, Our Lady of Birth, holds that meaning. People often read the early hour as an echo of the light entering the world and of the night of the Nativity. The churchyard that follows is not a separate thing from the devotion: sharing food and song belongs to it.

Days Missas do Parto is marked

Questions people ask about Missas do Parto

See also

CompadreA ritual kinship made at a child's baptism, binding parents and godparents for lifePraxeA set of student initiation rituals and traditions in Portuguese universities.Uma LulikSacred ancestral clan houses and ritual shrines in East TimorKenduriA communal prayer meal and gathering shared across Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei

Good reading and sources

• Childbirth Masses on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-10.