The council’s tribute to Caeiro will consist of unveiling a plaque at the junction of Rua do Carmo and Rossio square, in central Lisbon, in a ceremony that is scheduled to start at 12.30 p.m. on Friday, according to a note on its website.
Caeiro, who died on 15 November last year, had already been honoured in February this year by the council, which awarded her, also posthumously, the city’s Medal of Honour. A month later, Portugal’s president also awarded her the rank of Officer of the Order of Liberty.
On 25 April 1974, Caeiro (1933-2024) gave a soldier a red carnation that he then placed in the barrel of his rifle; she repeated the gesture with other soldiers in Lisbon, leading to the flower becoming the symbol of the revolution.
Contacted by the Lusa news agency, Carolina Caeiro Fontela, Celeste Caeiro’s granddaughter, confessed to feeling a “mixture of sensations” about the tribute being prepared by Lisbon city council for her grandmother, who became known as ‘Celeste of the Carnations’.
“It’s a mixture of feelings because I wish this had been done with my grandmother alive,” she said. “I wish she could have seen it, but it’s an enormous joy because it’s a city I love very much. It’s the city where my grandmother was born, where she grew up.”
Asked if this type of homage might help to “perpetuate the memory of her grandmother,” Fontela replied that the image of the carnations is already now strong enough to evoke her, albeit “indirectly” in reference to her gesture.
“I think her memory will always be marked,” she said. “Every year we see the ceremony in the Assembly of the Republic and everyone has a carnation on their chest. People are celebrating with carnations. “Even if people don’t know why, they will always, even indirectly, have Celeste’s name scattered around,” she said.
Platform with Lusa
