Today is the day of Portugal, Camões and Portguese communities around the world. It's also the day I'm officially launching a new blog--A Aventura Portuguesa--which is intended to keep me thinking in Portuguese now that my formal classes are over. If it also can be a point where people interested in the Lusófonia can meet, so much the better.As it happens June 10 is the anniversary of the death in 1580 of Portugal's greatest poet Luís de Vas Camões whose epic The Lusiads is great reading. During the long dictatorship of Salazar and the Estado Novo the holiday became a jingoist, super-patriotic event, which after the Carnation Revolution of 1974 was a reminder of the bad old days. In 1978 it was reworked into a day to celebrate not only Camões and Portugal but the Portuguese communities around the world.
There will be a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. at the Parque de Portugal (corner of St. Laurent and Marie-Anne) in Montreal, followed by a concert at 8 p.m. a short walk away at he Église St. Jean Baptiste (Rachel and Henri Julien) where the music of Zeca Afonso will be featured. The choice of the program is telling because Afonso's song "Grândola, Vila Morena" was played as a signal on Lisbon radio the night that the Carnation Revolution began.
Photo: Parque de Portugal, Montreal
1 comment:
I'm glad you provided the explanation of why I didn't know about this day! My Portuguese friends always celebrated the 25th of April, the Carnation Revolution. Which also happens to be Liberation Day in Italy, so it is a nice antifascist holiday.
Parque do Portugal is very sweet - it is also a telling example of the difficulties sometimes encountered living together in cities. I'd sit there and read or sketch far more often if there weren't aggressive beggars, but they have a right to be somewhere too, after all. There is a street sale on St-Laurent now; often there are events in that little park at such times. I also saw a guy dressed up as Vasco de Gama there once.
I'll definitely be checking out your new blog, though alas my Portuguese is not good enough to post in that language. I'll tackle it once my Spanish/Castillian is more solid.
Post a Comment