portuguese-history:

The woman who gave the Carnations to the Revolution

Celeste Caeiro worked on a restaurant that opened on the 25th of April, 1973. Two years later, to comemorate the restaurant’s opening, her boss ordered red and white carnations to give out to every woman attending the restaurant and a Port Wine to the men. However, on that morning, the revolution happening downtown Lisbon prevented the restaurant from opening. Celeste’s boss told all his employees to go home and take the carnations with them.

Celeste took the subway to Rossio, where she was immediatly confronted with the military forces. She approached one of the soldiers and asked what was going on. He answered “We are heading to Largo do Carmo to stop Marcello Caetano. This is a revolution!”. He then asked for a cigarette, but Celeste had none. She felt like giving some food to the soldiers, but all the stores were closed. So she handed out the only thing she had with her: her carnations. She told him: “If you want it, here: a carnation should be given to any person”. The soldier took the carnation and put it in his rifle.

So Celeste proceeded to hand out carnations. And the soldiers proceeded to put it in the barrell of their rifles.