Local Holidays
| Date | English name | Portuguese name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 March | St. Joseph's Day | Dia de São José | Celebrated in Santarém. |
| 13 June | St. Anthony's Day | Dia de Santo António | Celebrated in Lisbon where on the Avenida da Liberdade, there are the Marchas, a parade of folklore and costumes from the city's different traditional quarters, with hundreds of singers and dancers and a vast audience applauding their favorite participants. As St Anthony is the matchmaker saint, it is still the tradition in Lisbon to celebrate multiple marriages (200 to 300). |
| 24 June | St. John's Day | Dia de São João | Celebrated in Porto, Braga, Figueira da Foz, and Almada.
Porto and Braga celebrate with a big festival and fireworks over the River Douro (in Porto) and down Avenida da Liberdade (in Braga). Across the country a traditional midsummer bonfire is also built and following an ancient pagan tradition, revelers try to jump over the bonfire, this in order to gain protection during the rest of the year. |
| 21 September | St. Matthew Day | Dia de São Mateus | Celebrated in Viseu |
Read more about this topic: Public Holidays In Portugal
Famous quotes containing the word local:
“While it may not heighten our sympathy, wit widens our horizons by its flashes, revealing remote hidden affiliations and drawing laughter from far afield; humor, in contrast, strikes up fellow feeling, and though it does not leap so much across time and space, enriches our insight into the universal in familiar things, lending it a local habitation and a name.”
—Marie Collins Swabey. Comic Laughter, ch. 5, Yale University Press (1961)