(Grândola, Portugal) Fifty years ago this week, the Carnation Revolution of April 25 1974, ended more than forty years of a brutal dictatorship in Portugal. The Portuguese celebrated the anniversary with marching bands, parades, flowers and an iconic song–Grândola Vila Morena.
This song, by José “Zeca” Afonso, was played on the radio as a signal to the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) to begin the coup. Captain Fernando José Salgueiro Maia is remembered as a hero of the day for facing down forces loyal to the government led by Marcelo Caetano.
By the evening of the 25th, the coup succeeded and Caetano resigned without blood being spilled. Instead, the brilliant red carnation became the image of the revolution when a restaurant worker, Celeste Caeiro, gave a flower to a soldier who put it in the muzzle of his gun and–to use a 21st century phrase–it went viral!
Night and Silence during the dictatorship
The years of the Estado Novo, from 1933 to 1974, were grim for the Portuguese people. Under the stern and autocratic António de Oliveira Salazar, and his successor Caetano, thousands of people were imprisoned and tortured, women were subservient, unable to even open their own letters, and public gatherings were banned. Even Coca Cola was prohibited lest it threaten the Portuguese wine industry.
Portuguese poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen expressed the deep joy as the country emerged from this dire period with the words”
“Esta é a madrugada que eu esperava, O dia inicial inteiro e limpo, Onde emergimos da noite e do silencio.
Rough translation: This is the dawn I longed for, the first day complete and clean, when we emerge from the night and silence”
Disturbing /new trend
Despite the joyful celebrations, a recent election showed Portugal, like other European nations, is trending to the right. Throughout most of the past fifty years, Portugal has had centrist or mildly socialist governments. In 2019 a new hard right party, Chega, appeared. That year it received a mere 1.3 percent of votes. But it has steadily gained in popularity. In an election held March 10 this year, it received 18 percent of the votes.
Follow my blog to learn more about daily life in Portugal and check out my website: RosalieRayburn.com and my Digger Doyle Mysteries.
Rosalie in the Red and Green 