Celeste Caeirothe waitress who succeeded in transforming the carnation into a revolutionary symbol in Portugal in 1974, passed away this Friday at the age of 91 in Leiria, Portugal.as confirmed by his granddaughter, Carolina Caeiro Fontela, on her social networks.
“Forever, my grandmother Celeste. Take care of me,” Caeiro Fontela has posted on her profile on the social network X, while in statements to the Portuguese news agency. Lusa has confirmed that the old woman was suffering from respiratory problems and regretted that he had never been honored during his lifetime.
In fact, during the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution last April 25, Caeiro Fontela herself vindicated the role of her 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“months ago, Caeiro’s granddaughter said to the 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 commissioned him to buy carnations to offer to customers and decorate the interior of the restaurant. As he was walking 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 because of his lung conditions, could not give him the cigar the military man asked for, but he did gave him a carnation. The soldier took the flower and placed it in the barrel of his rifle, a gesture that was then repeated by his comrades and that ended up becoming a symbol of the Portuguese revolution.
Although Caeiro has never been honored during her lifetime, the Lisbon City Council, at the proposal of the Portuguese Communist Party, unanimously approved last May to honor the elderly woman with the award of the city’s medal.as well as with an “evocative intervention” in “a public place in the capital”, which, however, has not yet taken place.
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.