Celeste Caeiro
Celeste Caeiro | |
|---|---|
| Born | 2 May 1933 |
| Died | 15 November 2024 (aged 91) Leiria, Portugal |
| Other names | Celeste dos Cravos |
| Known for | handing out flowers to soldiers during the Carnation Revolution |
Celeste Martins Caeiro (Portuguese pronunciation: [sɨˈlɛʃtɨ kaˈɐjɾu]; 2 May 1933 – 15 November 2024), also known as Celeste dos Cravos ("Celeste of the carnations"), was a Portuguese pacifist and former restaurant worker. Her actions led to the naming of the 1974 coup as the Carnation Revolution.[1]
Early life
_(2).jpg)
Caeiro was born on 2 May 1933 in Lisbon.[2][3] Her mother, Teodora de Viana Martins Caeiro, was from Galicia, northern Spain, and went to live first in Amareleja and then in Lisbon, while Celeste's father left the family when she was a child.[3][2]
When Caeiro was 18 months old, she was admitted to the Alto do Pina Day Centre and was regularly visited by her mother. At the age of 14 she was transferred to the Asilo 28 de Maio. At the age of 20, she started her pre-nursing studies at the Santa Clara de la Casa Fia College, but due to lung problems, she never practiced this profession.[2]
As a teenager, during a holiday in the Alentejo, she found out that clandestine meetings were being held at his uncles' house, and shortly afterwards, in Lisbon, Caeiro began her politicial militancy while working at the tobacco shop of the Café Patinhas, which was a left-wing meeting place and where she hid works banned by the Estado Novo regime.[2]
1974 Carnation Revolution
In 1974 Caeiro was working in a self-service restaurant in Lisbon called "Sir" located at Franjinhas Building on Rua Braamcamp.[4] The restaurant was opened on 25 April 1973 and for its first anniversary the owners planned to give out carnations to all its customers on 25 April 1974 but this had to be cancelled because of the coup, so the employees were asked to take them home.[5][1]
Back home, Caeiro approached two soldiers to ask what was going on, to which one replied that they were going to arrest Marcelo Caetano and that a revolution had broken out.[5] The same man asked her for a cigarette, but as Caeiro did not smoke and in compensation for the "good news" he had given her, as she said shortly afterwards, she gave him a carnation from the bouquet she was carrying.[5] From then on, from Chiado to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Martyrs she gave the rest of the carnations to the soldiers and the tanks involved, and they placed the flowers in the muzzle of their guns.[1] The idea was copied and flower sellers donated more flowers to the mutinous soldiers.[6][7]The pictures of the soldiers with carnations in their guns appeared on front pages all over the world and the coup became known globally as the Carnation Revolution.[7]
Personal life and death
Caeiro, while working at the Café Patinhas tobacconist's, met a man, with whom she moved in shortly afterwards and with whom she had a daughter. They never married. When her daughter was three years old, Caeiro separated from him and left home after being abused by him.[2]
Caeiro died on the 15 November 2024, at the age of 91 at Leiria Hospital due to respiratory problems.[8][5]
Honors
- Medal of Honour of the City of Lisbon (2024)[9]
References
- ^ a b c Araújo Branco, Isabel (2000). "25 DE ABRIL SEMPRE! - A flor que deu o nome à Revolução: "Um cravo oferece-se a qualquer pessoa"". Avante! (in Portuguese) (1378). Archived from the original on 2013-07-06. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Araújo, António (28 July 2024). "Celeste e Guilhermina: a flor do acaso". Diário de Notícias (in pr).
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ a b "Fallece Celeste Caeiro, la mujer que dio nombre a la Revolución de los Claveles". RTVE. 15 November 2024.
- ^ O edifício Franjinhas vai ficar de cara lavada
- ^ a b c d Ribeiro, Marta Sofia (15 November 2024). "Morreu Celeste Caeiro, a mulher que deu os cravos aos militares do 25 de Abril". Público (in Portuguese).
- ^ Association, Peter Booker, Algarve History. "Why April 25th is a holiday - the Carnation Revolution and the events of 1974". Retrieved 2017-12-29.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Portugal's 'Carnations Lady' who gave name to 1974 revolution dies at 91". Reuters. 15 November 2024.
- ^ Portugal’s ‘Carnations Lady’ who gave name to 1974 revolution dies at 91 swissinfo
- ^ "Câmara Municipal de Lisboa lamenta a morte de Celeste Caeiro". Municipal Chamber of Lisbon (in Portuguese). 15 November 2024.
External links
  | This Portugal biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |