Customs and traditions
According to Abbreviationfinder, etiquette plays a central role in São Tomé and Príncipe. When meeting friends and acquaintances, it is important to give proper health and to ask how the person is feeling and how his or her family is doing. Elderly people are treated with special respect, especially if they have many children and grandchildren.
Being invited to someone’s home is a favorite that is mostly made friends. Familiars often meet and talk out on the street or by the fence to the garden.
- Countryaah: Overview of the capital city of Sao Tome and Principe, including information about its population, economy, geography, history and map.
The food traditions are mainly African, but have Portuguese influences. Everyday food consists of root vegetables, food bananas, regular bananas and fish. Meat is rarely eaten. Calulu is a typical Tomean dish, made on fish or meat as well as sweet potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, palm oil and more. Sometimes shrimp are also added. The casserole is served with beans. You also make other pots with palm oil, vegetables and root moisture. There are plenty of native root vegetables, vegetables and spices. There are also a variety of fruits, such as papaya, guava, breadfruit and citrus fruits. However, São Tomé and Príncipe are largely dependent on imported foods, such as rice, bread and wheat flour, which now belong to the basic food, at least in urban areas.
Mostly, tomeans eat cooked food in the evening, while breakfast consists of leftovers from the heated dinner, or from tea and bread. Corn is eaten as a snack.
Those with a financial opportunity can invite lunch or dinner guests to feijoada, a bean pan that originally comes from Portugal and has become a national dish in Brazil. Palm wine is the most common beverage. On solemn occasions, such as weddings and funerals, a wide range of dishes appear in Portuguese manner. Among other things, you eat grilled goat or chicken meat or, if you can afford, beef.
Holidays
According to Countryaah, the most important holidays are Christmas, New Year, Easter, May 1, Halloween, Martyrs Day (February 3), Independence Day (July 12), Armed Forces Day (September 6) and Earth Reform Day (September 30).
2014
November
ADI forms a new government
ADI leader Patrice Trovoada becomes prime minister for a new ADI government.
October
ADI largest in parliament
In the parliamentary elections, the opposition party wins ADI’s own majority in the legislative assembly, with 33 out of 55 seats. MLSTP-PSD backs 5 mandates and lands at 16. PCD decreases from 7 to 5 mandates. Just under a fifth of the new members are women. The election is conducted under calm conditions. In the local elections, ADI wins five of six districts on the main island of São Tomé but receives no representation on Príncipe, where the local party UMPP is clearly the largest.
April
Oil cooperation with Nigeria
Together with Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe will begin to try new unconventional methods for jointly extracting oil at sea.
March
National dialogue is held
President Pinto da Costa initiates a so-called national dialogue and brings together political parties, voluntary organizations and other associations to discuss important issues affecting the country. Deputy Prime Minister Trovoada’s party ADI abstains on the grounds that the party believes that the process violates the Constitution. The talks last for six days and end with a number of non-binding recommendations being issued. The proposals include prohibitions on voting, shorter terms of office, measures against corruption, improvements in the legal system and a change in the country’s administrative division.
February
The army chief is leaving
About 300 government soldiers strike for higher wages as well as better housing and health care. At the same time, the Presidential Guard refuses to serve at the airport when President Pinto da Costa will travel to Congo-Brazzaville on a state visit. When the army chief resigns, there is speculation about an imminent coup, but a week later the president appoints Colonel Justino Lima as the new army chief. Lima was previously an adviser to Pinto da Costa.
January
Taiwan assists in IT efforts
Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou visits São Tomé and promises that Taiwan will help build a number of digital centers in the country.
The government is being reformed
President Pinto da Costa dismisses Health Minister Leonel Pontes after it was revealed that he had let Taiwanese aid money go to himself and his relatives instead of to the Treasury. A few weeks later, nine new ministers, including a health minister, are appointed in connection with a government reform. An important task for the new government will be to strengthen the tourism industry.