Day of Portugal

EUROGENDFOR is congratulating Portugal and the Portuguese Contingent for its National Day, officially known as the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities. The Portuguese national day is dedicated to a cultural element – the alleged day of Luís de Camões’s death – rather than to a political or military historical fact. #LexPaciferat
Luís de Camões is considered the greatest Portuguese (language)’s poet. Author of a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama, he is best remembered for his epic work “Os Lusíadas”, usually translated as “The Lusiads”. In this magnificent epic poem, Camões “sings” with genius and art the Portuguese sailors’ first steps towards globalization, by providing a fantastical interpretation of the Portuguese voyages to India and Southeast Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The first festivities related to the 10th of June took place in 1880, when through a King decree, the 300th anniversary of the date pointed out by historians for the death of Luís de Camões (June 10, 1580) was commemorated.

However, it is only after the 25th of April 1974 Revolution (also known as the “Carnation Revolution”), which led to the fall of the Portuguese authoritarian regime, and put an end to the Portuguese Colonial War, that the 10th of June reached its current designation and relevancy. Since 1977, the Portuguese Communities over the world were also added to the 10th of June ephemeris agenda, and this day began to be celebrated abroad in order to set the Portuguese presence in the different communities worldwide.

Currently there is a register of Portuguese and Portuguese descendants living in more than 190 countries. The celebration of Portugal’s national day by the Portuguese communities around the world is a fair acknowledgment not only of its meaning to Portugal, but also of these communities’ contribution to the recognition of Portugal abroad.