On 10 June, we celebrate Portuguese National Day or The Day of Portugal, Camoes and the Portuguese communities (Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas) as it is also known. On this date, people all around the world commemorate the death of the Portuguese poet Luís de Camões, writer of the famous epic poem Os Lusíadas, first published in 1572. As well as being one of Portugal’s most renowned authors, Camões was also an adventurer: he lost one eye fighting in Ceuta, survived a shipwreck in present-day Vietnam and, according to folklore, saved his masterpiece by swimming with one arm while keeping the poem out of the water with the other.
The Day of Portugal is also celebrated in other countries where Portugal’s embassies, with the support of the Camões Institute, organise a wide range of exhibitions, concerts and festivities. In fact, as a reminder that this day is a celebration of Portuguese communities across the globe, in 2016 the formal festivities were split for the first time between Lisbon and Paris.
If you would like to join in the celebrations, we encourage you to keep learning more about this memorable author and the rich culture of Portuguese communities around the world as well as practising your interpreting skills by checking the Portuguese section of the Speech Repository.