Every May, thousands of students in black capes take over the streets in university cities across Portugal. The most well-known event of this end-of-the-year tradition is the a Queima das FitasBurning of the Ribbons .
Each faculdadecollege, faculty has its own ribbon colour, and at the end of their final year, finalistasgraduating students ceremonially burn their fitasribbons , marking the close of one chapter and the start of whatever comes next.
The tradiçãotradition dates back to the 1850s in Coimbra, home to Portugal’s oldest university. Back then, students tied coloured ribbons around their sebentaslecture notebooks to keep them organised, with each course getting its own colour. Once finals were done, the ribbons had no purpose, so a group of law students gathered outside the Porta Férrea, marched down to the lower town, and set theirs on fire. Other courses copied the idea, and the ritual grew from there.
The custom spread over time, and today versions of the Queima take place across the country. Porto’s festivities typically run in early May, Coimbra’s at the end of the month, and Lisbon’s version goes by a different name: Semana AcadémicaAcademic Week . Braga calls its version Enterro da Gata (“Burial of the Cat”), and Aveiro simply calls it Enterro (“Burial”).
Coimbra’s Queima is the oldest and the biggest, lasting eight days, one for each faculty of the Universidade de Coimbra. It kicks off at midnight with the Serenata Monumental, when students sing fadoPortugal’s quintessential music genre, known for melancholic lyrics de Coimbra on the steps of the Sé VelhaOld Cathedral to a silent crowd of thousands. A few days later, the Bênção das PastasBlessing of the Folders hands each finalista the leather folder containing the ribbon they’ll burn at week’s end.
The highlight of the week is the Cortejo Académico , a parade of floats decorated in the colours of each faculdade. Students throw beer, chant, and wave satirical placards aimed at professors, politicians, and whoever else deserves a good ribbing that year. Look closely and you’ll spot the finalistas at the front of each group, top hats on their heads and bengalascanes in hand.
The capa negrablack cape and the rest of the traje académicoacademic costume are not just costumes, either. Students earn the right to wear them through the praxehazing, freshman initiation ritual, prank , a system of initiations and traditions taken very seriously, with roots going back centuries and origins in monastic dress.
It may look like chaos from the outside, but there’s a lot of history behind it!