After the fall of the dictatorship, the origins of the Republic were commemorated in democratic Portugal, the traditional patriotic holidays were reinterpreted transnationally, and 25th April was established as the founding myth of Portugal’s emergent democracy.

On the Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon, the chants of a large crowd resound: “Forever 25^th April – Fascism never again!”. Red carnations can be seen everywhere – it is 25^th April, Freedom Day in Portugal. The national celebrations commemorate 25^th April 1974, when the dictatorship in Portugal was overthrown by young officers. Instead of a violent escalation, the officers received red carnations from the population. These became the eponymous symbol of the Carnation Revolution. The memory of the revolution developed into the linchpin of the democratic culture of remembrance in Portugal, turning 25^th April into the country’s most important public holiday. Since 1977, the Portuguese parliament has also celebrated the festivities with speeches by the president, the prime minister and delegates of the parties represented in parliament. The major daily and weekly newspapers are filled with interviews with contemporary witnesses, and the country’s intellectuals debate the dictatorial past as well as the legacy of the Carnation Revolution.

A more traditional holiday that can be associated with a democratic culture of remembrance in Portugal is 5^th October – the day of the establishment of the Republic. The commemorations on this day remember the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the First Republic on 5^th October 1910. Even during Salazar’s “New State”, 5^th October remained a national holiday because the illusion of the Republican state was to be maintained, at least nominally. In practice, the political police PIDE used the celebrations to identify and dismantle republican networks. With the overthrow of the dictatorship on 25^th April 1974, the meaning of 5^th October reverted back to its original emphasis. The First Republic was now to be declared the cradle of Portuguese democracy, upon whose legacy post-dictatorial Portugal could build. Since then, 5^th October has been celebrated in the capital accompanied by a military parade including national symbols such as the national flag and the Portuguese national anthem. The solemn ceremony is concluded by speeches from the President of the Republic and the Mayor of Lisbon. In 2012, the public holidays on 5^th October were suspended. Only four years later, however, this controversial decision was revoked once again.

Unlike the aforementioned commemorations, 10^th June as a public holiday is not a commemorative pillar for democracy in Portugal. 10^th June was solemnly introduced in 1880 and thus dates back to the Portuguese monarchy. This day commemorated national poet Luís Vaz de Camões, who is said to have died on 10^th June 1580. With the honouring of Camões, a monument was simultaneously erected to the Portuguese language, which was perfected in Camões’ epic Os Lusíadas. This also indicates the clearly patriotic character of the holiday, which later took on an ethnic-chauvinist intensification in the Estado Novo through the epithet “Day of the [Portuguese] Race”. The democratic transition and decolonisation from 1974 onwards made the reinterpretation of the public holidays urgently necessary. Eventually, 10^th June was renamed “Day of Portugal, Camões’ and the Portuguese Communities” in 1978. The increasing departure from the national fixation is also reflected in the transnationalisation of the commemoration. Henceforth, 10^th June was celebrated in both a Portuguese city and a centre of the Portuguese diaspora – for example, in Paris in 2016, and in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro the following year.