PORTUGAL DAY The Origin of June 10th by Irene Ribeiro

When celebrating one more Portugal's Day in this year of 1992, it is appropriate to remember the why of Portugal, Camoes, and the Portuguese Communities' Day.

During Portuguese Communities' Day, Camoes is simultaneously a symbol of unity: the unity of the people whose ancestral language is portuguese. Camoes, himself a foreign portuguese, an emigrant, an exile, never forgot his origins and immortalized the deeds of his country - Portugal - through his greatest work Os Lusiadas. Camoes became the symbol of national pride in many different moments of the Portuguese history and this fact has been unchanging throughout the centuries.

With June the 10th, Camoes appears as the patron of one nation, of a people, and the mirror of Portugal, the highest symbol of its citizens, even of the ones that left their country, the emigrants, the foreign Portuguese, the exiled or the children of Portuguese who never forgot their roots. The Portugal, Camoes, and Portuguese Communities' Day signifies, without a doubt, what is the most profound and noble feeling that touches the heart of the Portuguese, since it honours the 'land of birth', the culture that represents us in the world and the nation divided that is the thousands of Portuguese spread throughout the world. Because of this fact, this day is extended to all the Portuguese communities that can be found everyone in the globe. It is within the communities of emigrants, in all five continents, that June 10th is more traditionally rooted as a festivity than in Portugal.

The celebrations are still being held with the same ardour as three decades ago, when the communities were still in embryo.

In Kitchener, this festivity is not only a simple official homage imposed by the calendar, but it reached a projection worthy of recognition with the Portuguese-Canadians.

Portuguese communities dispersed throughout the earth are living and dynamic witnesses of the wisdom of life and adaptation to new lands and new people. Without damaging their participation in the welcoming society, in this case Canada, the Portuguese race also contributes to the betterment and strengthening of an identity that the country has not stopped looking for.

This article was originally published in Cross Cultures Magazine in Volume 1 - Issue 4 - 1992. Unauthorized copying, distribution or other usage without express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.