Santos Populares, Lisbon, Portugal
During the month of June
June is arriving and during the whole month it’s time to celebrate the Popular Saints: Santo António, S. Pedro and S. João. The saint of Lisbon is Santo António because he was probably born in Lisbon near Sé (one of the traditional neighborhoods) by the end of XII century and canonized on 13th of June of 1223. Santo António (Saint Anthony) is celebrated from the 12th of June evening to the next day (the 13th is a public holiday).
In this evening, clubs and festive groups from each traditional neighborhood join at the top of Avenida da Liberdade (metro station: Avenida) and march down singing and dancing. At this time the streets in the popular neighbourhoods such as Castelo, Mouraria, Graça, Alfama, Madragoa, Bairro Alto and Ajuda are decorated with small flags, coloured lights, paper lanterns and balloons. The streets are also filled with Lisbon folk music.
In these neighbourhoods, people eat Caldo Verde (cabbage and potato soup), grilled sardines (served in a plate or with bread) and drink wine or sangria. There is also the habit of offering each other little pots of basil and paper carnations on which they write poems dedicated to Santo António, also considered as the saint of marriage. Altars, dedicated to the saints, are put up as a way of asking for good fortune. Starting from the 7th of June until the 1st of July, you can listen to Fado while you take a ride on the very well known tram 28. Every Thursday until Sunday from 4pm to 6pm and from 7pm to 9pm respectively, several different Portuguese artists will be singing most of the Portuguese traditional songs. It is an initiative related to the Lisbon popular festivities.
This event was kindly submitted by Teresa, owner of Property 1656, Terraced Apartment, local accommodation in Lisbon, Portugal.
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