Celeste Caeirothe woman who with her carnations gave the name to the Revolution of 1974 in Portugal, died this Friday at 91 years in the town of Leiria. The news was confirmed by her granddaughter Carol, who reported that she had been suffering from respiratory problems for a long time.
“Forever, my grandmother Celeste. Take care of me,” he wrote on his social networks.
Celeste Caeiro, whose mother was Spanish, worked in the “El Sifire” restaurant, in the center of Lisbon, back in 1974, when the uprising occurred. According to what she herself commented in an interview, that April 25, the owners of the establishment had organized a celebration for their first anniversary and had bought flowers to decorate the space and give to customers.
However, as a result of the revolt, the restaurant decided not to open that day, something that Caeiro found out when he arrived at the site and saw the doors closed. The owners gave him part of the carnations so that they would not spoil. and they recommended that he return home for safety.
Caeiro decided not to follow the advice and, instead, took several bouquets of red and white flowers and went out to tour the capital, to find out what was happening.
It was already close to nine in the morning. Took the subway to plaza del Rossioright at the beginning of Lago do Carmo, and there he saw the tanks of the rebels, waiting for orders since dawn.
“I looked at them and said to a soldier: ‘What is this? What are you doing here?’”recalled the woman, who added the officers’ response to her story: “We are going to the Carmo Barracks, where Marcello Caetano, the president (heir to the Salazar regime) is.”
In that exchange, one of the soldiers asked him for a cigarettewhich Caeiro couldn’t give him because he didn’t smoke. Instead, the woman, who was carrying flowers, offered him one, as an apology for not being able to help him.
“I took a carnation, the first one was red, and he accepted it. Since I’m like that, so small, and he was on top of the tank, he had to stretch out his arm. “He grabbed the carnation and placed it in his rifle.”he said.
Immediately, the rest of the soldiers followed their companion and also asked him for a flower, to put on the tips of their weapons.
The image became a symbol of the Revolution -which is remembered for the absence of bloodshed– and a freedom iconwhich the then Communist Party member could never have imagined.
“There are people who still think that (Celeste) was a florist, but my grandmother was not a florist,” said her granddaughter when remembering this noble gesture that went down in history.
Despite its relevance for the country, Caeiro has never been honored in lifesomething his family regrets. The Lisbon City Council, however, took a proposal from the Portuguese Communist Party and unanimously approved to honor it with the award of the city medal and with an “evocative intervention” in “a public place in the capital,” although it is unknown when. will happen.
Caeiro died the same year as the 50th Anniversary of the revolt that ended the dictatorship in the country.
(With information from EFE and Europa Press)
