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]
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 |
Early life
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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 Pia 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 her 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 books banned by the Estado Novo regime.[2] She also became interested in politics when she attended trials at the Plenary Court.[4]
1974 Carnation Revolution
editIn 1974 Caeiro was working in a self-service restaurant in Lisbon called "Sir" located at Franjinhas Building on Rua Braamcamp.[5] 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.[6][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.[6] 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.[6] 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.[7][8] 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 ans signalled the transition from a military coup to a peacful and bloodless revolution.[8][4]
The following day, when Caeiro returned to work, radio journalists asked her where the idea of the carnations had come from. She gave the first interview to magazine Crónica Feminina.[9] [2] Since then, every year, around 25 April, she was given time off work so that she could give interviews.[2]
On 7 May 1974, journalist António José Saraiva wrote in the newspaper República that "the red carnation of Freedom has no known author, it was not proposed or programmed by any organisation. It is anonymous and natural like everything that is alive".[2][4] Later, Artur Varatojo, in Crónica Feminina, described Celeste's gesture with a poem and as a symbol of freedom: "In a few days, the carnation became the symbolic flower of a country... The first hand that knew how to place it tenderly in the barrel of a rifle... It was a woman - if it is a woman - that someone has the right to an immortal statue."[2][4] Celeste's testimony is also well detailed in Ana Sofia Fonseca's book Capitãs de Abril.[4]
In 2024, she took part in the parade commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution on Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon alongside her daughter and granddaughter.[4][6] Celeste Caeiro's presence on Avenida da Liberdade was one of the most memorable moments of the popular celebration.[6] At the solemn session that day in the Assembly of the Republic, the deputy Rui Tavares suggested that a statue of Caeiro be erected in the Assembly building.[4]
Personal life and death
editCaeiro, 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 suffering from domestic violence.[2]
On 25 August 1988, Caeiro lost all her belongings when the flat she had rented in the Armazéns do Chiado building was destroyed by a major fire in the area.[10] She lived on a pension of 370 euros in a small house a few metres from Avenida da Liberdade.[4] In 2024, a public subscription was organised to enable Celeste to buy a hearing aid.[2][11]
She was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party.[4]
Caeiro died on 15 November 2024, at the age of 91 at Leiria Hospital due to respiratory problems.[12][6] Her death was mourned by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro who stated that "in this hour of mourning, I leave a word of recognition for Celeste Caeiro", and the President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed his sadness and announced that she would be decorated posthumously, while the Armed Forces published a message saying that "Celeste Caeiro, with an apparently simple gesture, became the symbol of a movement that changed Portugal forever" and "her legacy will remain alive in history and in the memory of all of us".[13][14] Political parties like the Portuguese Communist Party and LIVRE also mourned her death.[4] The funeral chapel is scheduled for the morning of 17 November in the church of São José da Anunciada, in Lisbon, followed by the religious funeral and then she will be transferred to the crematorium in Alto de São João.[15]
Honors
edit- Medal of Honour of the City of Lisbon (2024)[16]
References
edit- ^ 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 f g h i j 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.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Moreira Rato, Maria (16 November 2024). "Celeste Caeiro: a mulher que ofereceu flores à Revolução e deixou um legado imortal". Sol (in Portuguese).
- ^ O edifício Franjinhas vai ficar de cara lavada
- ^ a b c d e f 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.
- ^ F. Reis, Marta (25 April 2019). "Celeste, a lisboeta que deu os cravos à revolução". SAPO (in Portuguese).
- ^ A Celeste dos Cravos perdeu o Chiado no fogo (in Portuguese)
- ^ Ella es Celeste Caeiro, la mujer que, con un pequeño gesto, dio nombre a la Revolución de los Claveles (in Spanish)
- ^ Portugal’s ‘Carnations Lady’ who gave name to 1974 revolution dies at 91 swissinfo
- ^ Celeste Caeiro. Exército Português diz que "legado permanecerá vivo na história" (in Portuguese)
- ^ Luís Montenegro, PCP e Livre lamentam morte de Celeste Caeiro (in Portuguese)
- ^ Funeral de Celeste Caeiro realiza-se neste domingo em Lisboa (in Portuguese)
- ^ "Câmara Municipal de Lisboa lamenta a morte de Celeste Caeiro". Municipal Chamber of Lisbon (in Portuguese). 15 November 2024.
Further reading
edit- Davison, Phil (2024-11-17). "Celeste Caeiro, Whose Flowers Gave a Name to a Revolt, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-11-18.