10/06/2025
Why is Portugal Day celebrated on June 10th?
There are plenty of reasons for today to be a national holiday, celebrating Portugal Day, Camões Day, the Portuguese Communities Day and the Guardian Angel Day.
There are dates that define us. June 10, Portugal Day, is one of them. More than just a celebration, it is a reflection of the Portuguese soul – rich, resilient, dreamy. On this day, we celebrate not only the memory of Luís Vaz de Camões, the genius of words and the sea, but also our people, our language, our communities spread across the world and the deep connection we have to our history and collective identity.
One day, many meanings
The Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities commemorates the death of Camões in 1580, the greatest poet of the Portuguese-speaking world, the one who left us “The Lusiads”, the epic that transformed our history into myth, and our navigators into eternal heroes.
But this day is not limited to his tribute. It also celebrates the Guardian Angel of Portugal, a spiritual symbol of divine protection over the nation, and the Armed Forces, which, over the centuries, defended the sovereignty and values of a resilient people.
The construction of a symbolic date
The origins of the holiday date back to the First Republic, which sought to consolidate new national symbols in a secular and modern Portugal. In 1910, after the Proclamation of the Republic, several religious holidays were abolished and replaced by civil dates that exalted the homeland, freedom and the democratic spirit.
It was, however, during the Estado Novo that June 10th became institutionalized at a national level as a day of patriotic glorification. Under the name “Race Day”, the idea of a united, brave and determined people was extolled — a narrative that served the nationalist propaganda of the time.
Despite the ideological burden associated with the Salazar regime, June 10th remained and managed to reinvent itself after April 25th, 1974. In a democracy, the celebration gained new life, paying tribute to all Portuguese people, both within and outside the country, and their unshakable connection to their homeland.
The people of the four corners
Today, this day is also for the Portuguese Communities, millions of citizens who, although they live far from home, keep the flame of Portuguese identity alive.
Whether in Paris, Toronto, Boston, Luanda or Zurich, June 10th is celebrated with emotion: a national anthem sung with a choked voice, a tear that flows when the flag is raised, a toast with Portuguese wine that unites distant hearts.
It is the nostalgia of those who have left, the longing of those who stayed, and the certainty that, wherever there is a Portuguese, there is Portugal.
Camões: eternity in words
Luís de Camões is more than a poet. He is the face of our creative genius, of our ability to transform suffering into beauty, and history into legacy. He sang of our achievements, but also denounced our failures. He loved his country with passion and disenchantment, as only a true Portuguese can love.
June 10th is the day we celebrate him — not only for what he wrote, but for what he represents: the union between culture, identity and memory. It is the day we look back with pride and forward with hope.
The Angel of Portugal: protection and faith
Less known, but deeply symbolic, is the cult of the Guardian Angel of Portugal. Instituted by D. Manuel I and renewed centuries later, this angel is considered the spiritual protector of the country. His figure also reappears in the apparitions of Fátima, as the “Angel of Peace”, reinforcing the spirituality deeply rooted in the Portuguese soul.
From Ourique to the future
Legend has it that it was with divine help, in the Battle of Ourique, that D. Afonso Henriques established himself as the first king of Portugal. Since then, our history has been made up of challenges and overcoming, of departures and returns, of defeats and glories. June 10th is the thread that sews together all these pages of our history into a single day of reflection, exaltation and belonging.
Conclusion: A day that belongs to us
June 10th is a day for all of us. It is the day of the soldier and the poet, of the grandmother who emigrated to Switzerland and of the grandson who learns Camões at school. It is the day of our language — the same one that echoes in Brazil, Angola, Timor, and that pulses with love, pain, longing and pride.
On this day, Portugal rediscovers itself. It looks to the past with respect, to the present with demand, and to the future with faith. May we never forget: we are few, but we are many. We are small, but infinitely big in our hearts. We are Portugal.
