Ilha de São Miguel Local Custom Tips by cachaseiro Top 5 Page for this destination

Some people still use the horse for transport.

Even if most locals on the Azores drive cars these days then you still have some people who ride horse carts as a mean of transport.
You won´t see many of them, but there are quite a few if you drive around the smaller roads on the island and they sure add to the local street scene in a positive way.

Squid fishing.

Fishing for squid is both a trade and a local custom in Sao Miguel.
Even if there was no money to be made from it they would be doing it anyway.
They are fishing for squids with lines and you will see the boats out right off the coast as soon as the weather is suitable for it.
When the weather is not good for fishing you will often see the fishermen hanging out by the local cafes waiting impatiently for the weather to get better so they can go out and fish.
this is a trade, but certainly also a big part of the culture in *Sao Miguel.

The Capote.

The Capote was worn by aroran women back in the old days when the islands were highly religious and conservative.
It was kind of a dress where you had the whole body coverd by long robes and the head was coverd by clothes too that was suspended by jaw bones from the whales that they caufht on the island.
The dress was in many ways a bit of an "Azoran Burqua" and it was meant to shield the wealthy women of the island from the hungry eyes of the working class.
These days the capote is no longer worn and the girls are happily wearing tight jeans and walking topless on the beach, but the Capote is still a part of the Azoan identiry.