From: www.goa-world.com -Goa's Pride <goaworldtoday@...>
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 8:29 AM
>
> June 10 'Luis de Camoes Day'
>
> On June 10, most Portuguese descendants gather and toast each other. It's
a day to celebrate Portugal and the Portuguese community. It is a day to
celebrate Portuguese struggles and successes worldwide.
> This date is labeled Day of Portugal, of Camoes and of the Portuguese
communities - a much cherished Portuguese event.
>

It is wrong to say "most Portuguese descendants". The correct expression
would be "most Portugese nationals".

>
> What is unusual about this National Day celebration is that unlike other
countries which observe the day of Independence as their National Day, the
Portuguese celebrate Camoes Day, in honour of a celebrated Portuguese poet,
Luis de Camoes, who in 1572 published Os Lusiadas, meaning "The sons of
Lusus", the mythical founder of Portugal, which poetically means "the
Portuguese". Echoing classical models, the poem chronicled the voyages of
Vasco de Gama, before a panorama of strangely mixed Christian and pagan
images.
>

Portugal also celebrates (with public holiday and some ceremonies) December
1st as the Day of Restoration of its independence (in 1640) from sixty years
of Spanish yoke.

>
> Os Lusiadas has been hailed throughout Europe, sometimes to the detriment
of Portugal's other literature, as Portugal's one masterpiece. Under Antonio
Salazar, Prime Minister of Portugal in the 1930s, Os Lusiadas became an icon
of Portuguese nationalism, and is said to be rightfully renowned as a
classic of world literature.
>

Under Antonio Salazar (and Marcelo Caetano who succeeded him in the prime
ministership) June 10th was called "Dia da Raça" (Day of the Race), though
it was never explained what was meant by the word "Race" - trying to convey
to the world that there was a "Portuguese Race" which included whites,
blacks and Asians without discrimination? - Salazar "ruled" up to 1968 and
Caetano from there upto the revolution of April 25, 1974 which ended the
one-party dictatorship and introduced democracy in the country, paving the
way for the recognition of the independence of Guinea-Bissau unilaterally
proclaimed in the previous year, the recognition of India's sovereignty over
Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar-Haveli, and the granting of independence in
1975 to Cape Verde, S. Tome e Principe, Mozambique and Angola, as well as
for the handing over of Macau to China in December 1999 and fighting in the
international fora for (and winning) the self-determination and independence
of East Timor which had suffered terribly for almost a quarter of a century
under the Indonesians.

>
> However, de Camoes did not live long enough to reap the celebrity of his
poetry. He began and ended life poor, though it is said he did find romance
and adventure in between. An affair with one of the queen's
ladies-in-waiting caused his banishment to North Africa, where he lost an
eye in military service.
>

He wrote a beautiful sonet to his beloved, calling her "Natercia" (jumbling
the letters of "Caterina" - as "Catarina" was written and pronounced in his
days).

> Returning to Lisbon, Camoes was involved in a skirmish that wounded a
magistrate, ended up in prison, and was banished again to Goa in India in
1553. In 1570 he returned to Lisbon, and published Os Lusiadas in 1572. The
poem's worth was immediately recognized and as a reward he received a small
royal pension. His final illness, however, was spent in a public hospital
and when he died in 1580, he was buried in a common grave.
>
> Links:
>
> http://amediavoz.com/camoes.htm
>
> www.goa-world.com/about_goa/
>
>