In mid-June, Lisbon throws one of its biggest celebrations of the year.
On the 12th, dozens of groups in elaborate matching costumes parade down the Avenida da Liberdade to compete in the marchas populares , a tradition that dates back to 1932. Each bairroneighbourhood spends months rehearsing its own dance routine and original song, and they take the rivalry seriously. Alfama, Mouraria, and Benfica are among the names to watch.
Around the parade, the streets fill with arraiasstreet parties and the smell of sardinhas assadasgrilled sardines . Vasos de manjericobasil plants in little terracotta pots appear on every corner, each with a handwritten quadraa poem with 4 lines tucked inside. Give one to someone you like and you’ll be part of a courtship tradition that goes back centuries.
The festivities carry on through the night and into the 13th, o Dia de Santo António, Lisbon’s municipal holiday. Santo António is the city’s patron saint, known as o santo casamenteirothe matchmaking saint .
In that spirit, the Câmara MunicipalCity Hall organises the casamentos de Santo AntónioSanto António's weddings , a collective wedding where 16 selected couples marry with all costs covered. The newspaper Diário Popular started the tradition in 1958, to give working-class couples a wedding they couldn’t otherwise afford. It stopped in 1974, the year of the Carnation Revolution, and the city brought it back in 1997.
So there’s more to Santo António than sardines and street parties, though those are non-negotiable too.
A few years back, the two of us (Joel and Rui) filmed the festivities. You can watch them here, or listen to our Shorty on Santo António.