Volta do Mar

Today we celebrate Portugal Day, officially “Day of Portugal, Camões, and the Portuguese Communities"! Its origins are at the commemoration of (the death of) Luís de Camões on the 10th of June 1580. Camões is one of our most relevant poets and national literary icon!

The story of Camões is legendary. He was an adventurer who lost an eye fighting in Ceuta, wrote the “Lusíadas”, our national epic poem, and survived a shipwreck in nowadays Vietnam. It is said that he saved his literary work while swimming with one arm and keeping the other above the water.

This celebration was officially suspended in 1974, on our carnation revolution, a time of unrest and liberation from our old regime. It was after resumed, and expanded to include the “Portuguese Communities”, composed of Portuguese emigrant communities and their descendants living around the globe.

What about your national day? When is it, and when do you celebrate it?