We Met The Mayor of Lisbon

Talk about timing. Or maybe just Trevor luck.  But there we were shaking hands with the mayor on the Avenida da Liberdade. He actually spoke to us in pretty perfect English for a half a minute, asking where we were from and telling us how much we were going to love Lisbon and the event.  I wasn’t going to be brash enough to take a photo right when he was there or a dreaded ‘selfie’. Come on.

So the best proof I have are the two photos below, before and after, neither of which are great.  Still, Lisbon is a city of 3,000,000, so that equates to a place such as Chicago.  Seemed like a crazy cool thing of being in the right place at the right time. Or just Trevor luck.

I’ve been thinking about that kind of luck given the timing of our visit here to Lisbon. When Trev and I were planning, as I mentioned in a previous post, we were curious about Portugal. The capital, known for its tiles and history, seemed a good place. And, no joke, Lisbon is about as west as you can get on continental Europe. Therefore, coming from the States it represented one of the shortest flights from New York. (Even though we ended up round tripping to London, instead.) So, we thought, let’s just start there in June.

Festas de Lisboa

Turns out, June is touted as the month to come here for a few reasons, not the least of which is the Festas de Lisboa, or Festival of Lisbon.  The feast day is always on June 13, commemorating the day the patron saint of Lisbon, Saint Anthony, died in 1231.  This is a public holiday in Lisbon and the night before people party with gusto. Lots of beer and grilled sardines and music. And a big parade called the Marchas Poplares.

In looking it up to get my facts right, I read that they are really celebrating a few popular saints, so it is also knows as the Festas dos Santos Populares.  Happening the first two weeks of June, and that checks out as it is still hopping around here, they are also celebrating Saint Peter and Saint John. 

Corpus Christi

While we’ve been here there have been two other holidays packed into a tight few days. Corpus Christi Day was on June 8th. As a non-catholic, this has been an education. I had to look up the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is held the second Thursday after the Pentecost, and the Pentecost is held 50 days after Easter.  The Feast of Corpus Christi commemorates the Last Supper before the crucifixion. Being tied to Easter, a date which always moves around the calendar, so does, ultimately, Corpus Christi. Kind of amazing we picked a time to visit where it is just days away from Festas de Lisboa.

I was about to write “the things you learn on vacation”. Technically, we aren’t on vacation, we are trying out the digital nomad lifestyle in Europe but still working every day as normal. It is just that with the time zone difference, days are for fun and evenings are the workday. And finally, I get it. Even though we are working it FEELS like a vacation. We are in a new place, new culture, eating new foods, and learning, learning, learning.

Portugal Day

Portugal Day was on Saturday, June 10th. I wondered if it was their equivalent of our July 4th, but no. This day  commemorates the death of Portugal’s revered and most famous national poet, Luis de Camoes. Gotta love the Portuguese for this, celebrating a poet.  Among his work was a famous one about Vasco da Gama discovering the sea route to India. The more I read about Camoes, the more it is clear he was “colorful”, living quite a life including being imprisoned twice.

Two asides here. Trev bought a history book here about the conquests and empire of Portugal. Their effort to take a piece of the spice trade for themselves by finding a sea route around Africa was a ballsy approach.  Aside #2, looks like Google might have had a special doodle this past June 10th to honor Portuguese day. I missed it. Did anyone see it?

So there have been a LOT of people, a lot of happy, celebratory people, here in Lisbon and I have no way of knowing if it is typical summer tourists or Portuguese coming in from the burbs and elsewhere to have a fun time in the big city.

We also saw two huge cruise ships docked last Friday with a surge of people downtown. (I saw another one coming in yesterday, too. Looking down a street to the river, you can see the ship between the buildings. Reminded me of those pictures of Venice with ancient buildings and those behemoth ships cruising by in a weird juxtaposition of elements in a scene.)

Marchas Populares

With all the reasons to celebrate, we have been noticing the build up since we arrived. Stages going up at little squares, kiosks and vendors getting set up, and decorations in the streets.  Monday was still a work day for me but we headed down to the Avenida da Liberdade by 8:00 to see the parade. Arriving early was indeed fortuitous in the aforementioned shaking hands with the mayor.

The parade was like nothing we’ve seen before. My best description would be traditional folk dancing meets Carnival. The costumes and props were flamboyant, but not sexy or racy. Very sparkly for both the men and women, and there were also lots of kids involved. My grandmother used to square dance and seeing the dresses brought back memories of her wearing her dresses with those big, colorful petticoats underneath. 

As with most experiences, the photo gallery I’m posting can’t do it justice. But to describe what you are seeing – the different neighborhoods of Lisbon put together a group. Those groups come up with a theme evidenced in props and costumes, and probably the music and songs they sing, though being in Portuguese we have no idea. They stop periodically and have a choreographed song and dance performance for one or even two songs. Each group has their own small band of about eight people, drums and horns are prominent.  

It was an amazing spectacle. We watched for three hours and didn’t see them all as our feet and backs were aching.  The march is not just about representing your ‘hood but also a contest where neighborhoods rank 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and get, I suppose, bragging rights for the rest of the year. This is a BIG deal. 

I loved the music of Mouraria (The Moorish Quarter) and the performance of Bairro Alto, where we are renting, was fantastic and reminded me of French CanCan dancing.  They placed second.  I thought the most clever costumes were the sewing/couture theme of Belem.  The men’s suit lapels were scissors and the women had sewing pins, complete with colorful balls, standing up like a high collar.  So creative, but then they all were.

If you have any interest, check out this video highlighting the groups in this year’s event.  Click Video under the image.