Celeste Caeiro, the woman whose gesture gave its name to the Carnation Revolution, dies at 91

Celeste Caeiro, The woman who gave carnations to the Portuguese soldiers who were at the forefront of the military uprising of April 25, 1974 and gave its name to the Carnation Revolution, died this Friday at the age of 91.

This has been confirmed by the Portuguese media Public. Previously, his granddaughter Carolina He announced the news of the death on the social network X. “Forever my Heavenly Grandmother. Look at me,” he wrote.

50 years ago, Portugal said goodbye to the longest dictatorship of the 20th century in Western Europe. It was a spring Thursday when a handful of young soldiers They rose up against the ultraconservative regime that had been trampling on the freedoms of Portuguese society for 40 years.

As the soldiers marched through the streets of Lisbon, Celeste Caeiroa woman who was on her way to work, was questioned by a soldier. “Do you have a cigarette?”he asked. In a hurry, this 40-year-old waitress told him that she did not smoke, but was willing to help with anything. He offered her a red carnation. The soldier placed it in the mouth of his rifle.

Thus, Caeiro distributed one by one the red and white carnations that he was carrying to all the soldiers he came across. “I offered another one to another soldier and he accepted it, and then another and then another. It was a very great joy. I was very happy when I saw them crossing the square with the carnations. It was a feeling that cannot be explained,” she said years later. late in one of his last interviews.

The gesture became a symbol of pacifism of the revolution. Only four people died during that day in front of the political police headquarters, which opened fire on the crowd surrounding the building. That was the only one violent counterpoint of the day, which at times seemed more like a popular festival than a military coup.