Alfama’s Big Party Celebrating its Patron Saint

A few years ago, we learned about Dia do Santo António, or Saint Anthony’s Day and had to go check it out. This year we returned, more experienced and ready for the celebrations. Anthony of Padua (Italy) is actually from Lisbon. He is the city’s patron saint as well as being the patron saint of lost things, and a saint to whom the city’s fishermen’s wives would traditionally pray for the safe return of their husbands when they went to sea.

On June 13, Saint Anthony is celebrated on the anniversary of his death in 1231. The night before, the winding maze of streets in Alfama, Lisbon’s oldest neighborhood, are transformed into a raging, all night, outdoor party. Colorful streamers are hung over the weeks leading up to Saint Anthony’s Eve. Grills assembled, beer carts and taps moved into place and residents, tourists and Portuguese citizens from all over descend into the warren of streets, many not receding until dawn.

Earlier that day, the city funds the weddings of Saint Anthony’s Day where couples who, traditionally, cannot afford a wedding on their own have petitioned to become part of the celebrations. They are wed en masse at the Cathedral of Lisbon, the Sé, in a nationally televised ceremony and then join the parade down Avenida da Liberdade where dance teams from the neighborhoods and groups across Lisbon celebrate late into the evening in a contest awarded to the best performance.

Saint Anthony’s day is filled with other love and marriage traditions. Fresh basil plants (manjericão) in pots are exchanged as a symbol of blossoming or enduring love (just don’t sniff the plant directly, as it’s bad luck. To smell them, touch the tops of the plant with your fingers and smell your freshly spiced digits). Women seeking a marriage proposal offer flowers to Saint Anthony and at the statue of Saint Anthony outside his church men or women toss a coin to the statue hoping for it to land in his book or hood, symbolizing his blessing of their marriage.

Back in Alfama, as the parade winds down after midnight, the party is just getting started. Grilled sardines, fresh caldo verde soup and corn bread are consumed along with copious amounts of beer, wine and ginja cherry liqueur.

These people, meaning the Portuguese and particularly the Lisboetas, sure do love a holiday and this one is their crowning celebration. So grab your bride (or groom), a beer and a sardine and dance until dawn… or at least as long as you can last.

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