Celeste Caeirothe waitress who managed to transform the carnation into a revolutionary symbol in Portugal in 1974, died this Friday at 91 years of age in the town of Leiriaas confirmed by her granddaughter, Carolina Caeiro Fontela, on her social networks.
“Forever, my grandmother Celeste. Take care of me,” Caeiro Fontela published on his profile on the social network Lusa has confirmed that the old woman suffered from respiratory problems and he has regretted that a tribute had never been paid to him during his lifetime.
In fact, during the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution on April 25, Caeiro Fontela herself claimed the role of his grandmother as the architect of this flower being recognized as the revolutionary symbol par excellence in the country. “There are many people who still think that it was a florist (who gave a carnation to a soldier), but my grandmother was not a florist“Caeiro’s granddaughter stated months ago in statements to the aforementioned Portuguese agency, recalling that her grandmother worked as a waitress in Lisbon.
On April 25, 1974, the self-service restaurant where Caeiro worked was closed, but his boss had asked him to buy carnations to offer to customers and decorate the interior of the restaurant. When he walked down the street with the bouquet of carnations, a member of the Armed Forces Movement asked him for a cigarette.
Caeiro, who had never smoked due to his lung problems, could not give him the cigarette that the soldier asked for, but he did. he gave her a carnation. The soldier took the flower and placed it on the barrel of his rifle, a gesture that was then repeated by his companions and that ended up becoming a symbol of the portuguese revolution.
Although Caeiro has never been honored in her lifetime, the Lisbon City Council, at the proposal of the Portuguese Communist Party, unanimously approved last May honor the old woman with the award of the city medalas well as with an “evocative intervention” in “a public place in the capital”, which however has not yet occurred.
The Carnation Revolution is the name by which the coup d’état carried out by the Armed Forces Movement – an organization formed in the Portuguese Army during the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar – on April 25, 1974 against the dictatorial State is known.
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