In 1974, Celeste Caeiro was 40 years old and lived in a room she rented in Chiado, with her mother and daughter. She worked on Braancamp Street, cleaning at the Franjinhas restaurant, which had opened a year earlier. She was the woman who sparked the beginning of The Symbol of the Revolution.
Who is Celeste Caeiro?
Celeste Martins Caeiro, born in Socorro, Lisbon, on 2 May 1933, was the woman who, on 25 April 1974, distributed carnations to the military who were leading a coup to overthrow the regime led by Marcelo Caetano. For this reason, the revolution became known as the Carnation Revolution.
How did it happen?
The opening day of the restaurant Franjinhas was precisely April 25th, 1973. The manager wanted to celebrate the restaurant’s first anniversary by offering carnations to the customers. He had bought red carnations and had them in the restaurant when he heard on the radio that a revolution was taking place on the streets.
He sent everyone away and added, “Take the flowers home, there’s no need for them to stay here and wither.”
Celeste then took the Metro to Rossio and remembers seeing the “chaimites” there and asking a soldier what they were. The soldier, who had been there since early morning, asked her for a cigarette, and Celeste, who didn’t smoke, could only offer him a carnation. The soldier immediately placed the carnation on the rifle barrel. The gesture was seen and imitated.
On the way to Largo do Carmo, Celeste offered carnations, and the soldiers placed these carnations on more rifle barrels.”
What Happened to Her After?
After her gesture, Celeste was called Celeste of the Carnations. On the 25th of August in 1988, she lost all her belongings. This happened when a major fire destroyed the flat she was renting.
In 1999, the poet Rosa Guerreiro Dias dedicated the poem Celeste em Flor to her.
As of 2024, she is 91 years old and still lives in Lisbon with a humble Portuguese pension.
Poem
Celeste em Flor
Tu foste de palmo e meio
De voz doce e olhar brilhante.
Falas hoje sem receio
Desse momento importante.
Foste o vaso, foste a terra
Onde o craveiro aflorou.
E assim amainaste a guerra,
A guerra que não sangrou.
Com um molho de cravos na mão
Andaste p’la Baixa à toa
Sem saber da revolução
Que se passava em Lisboa.
À Rua do Carmo chegaste,
Viste soldados armados.
Mas tu não te atrapalhaste
Deste Cravos Encarnados.
Deste um cravo a cada mão
Mais nada tinhas p’ra dar
E o tropa com emoção
Na espingarda o foi espetar.
Com este gesto, mulher
Trouxeste ao país Glória.
Não és uma mulher qualquer
Nem qualquer uma entra p’rá História.
És somente portuguesa
Uma mulher em tantas mil
Mas irás ser com certeza
Mulher dos cravos de Abril.
Para ti Celeste em flor,
Esta pequena homenagem feita por
uma poetisa popular alentejana.Rosa Guerreiro Dias
25 de Abril de 1999