Mouraria, June 12, 2009

Santo Antonio is also the matchmaker saint. A charming custom on the eve of June 12 is for young men to present a newly sproutet basil (manjerico), for a newly sprouted love) to the girls they hope to wed. A frilled and fluted tinsel-trimmed paper carnation of various colors blooms in each pot. Within the petals is a poem or message which indicates the young man’s passion. Often the flower is accompanied by a painted toy, a pretty fan, or some other trifle calculated to appeal to a maiden’s fancy.

Largo do Terreirinho  Mouraria

On the Eve of June 13 young girls try various methods of finding out whom they will wed. One favorite way is for a girl to fill her mouth with water and hold it until she hears a boy’s name mentioned. The name she hears is sure to be that of her future husband!

In June, the month of the Festas dos Santos Populares (Feast Days of the Popular Saints), the Lisbon nights are filled with lively festivities, parades and live music that take over the city’s historical center. The main Saints’ days are for Anthony (Antonio June 12-13), John (June 23-24) and Peter (June 28-29). Parades, feast, sardines, wine & live Fado music (2)

Live music, dancing and plenty of food and drinks like gaseous lemonade, wine, beer or sangria.

Traditionally millions of big and tasty sardines (sardinhas), accompanied by traditional bread, are grilled in the month of June in Portugal, high season for this delicious silvery fish. They were already eaten in the XV Century and grilled outdoors, due to the strong aroma that they free when roasting.

Party time, also for students! Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Lisbon 

The streets are filled with the delicious smell (and the smoke!) of sardines being grilled. After a couple of beers some students show the girls that boys are created with very strong muscles…..whow! 25 push ups!

Unique bar and top-class restaurant  ‘Anos 60′ has been established in the nineties in this neighborhood  More…….

Santo António was born in 1195 in Lisbon’s oldest neighborhood Alfama, where the small church of Santo António da Sé now stands. Young people write letters asking him to furnish sweethearts. These epistles are dropped into a box in the church. When love affairs prosper and suitable mates are found, the box receives thank offerings from the grateful lovers. Mass marriages known as “St. Anthony’s Weddings” are held during the mid-June St. Anthony’s Day celebrations. More information ‘Festas de Lisboa’

In June you can enjoy musicians singing fado music in the trolleys, some are decorated with sardines… more information on events during Festas de Lisboa

Thanks to Dorothy Gladys Spicer

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Politicians, journalists and many local celebrities meet up in ‘Anos 60′ to discuss politics, dine and enjoy the live Brazilian and Portuguese music. Mariza, the internationally well-known fado singer started her career in Mouraria where she grew up and performed many times in ‘ANOS 60′.

Che Guevara . ‘Anos 60′ means ‘the sixties’. The name was chosen because of the rough political times in the sixties in Portugal, when the Portuguese people suffered under the corrupt dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, president of the Council of Ministers of Portugal for 36 years, from 1932 to 1968, and founder of the Estado Novo (New Regime). On April 25, 1974, the Estado Novo finally fell with the Carnation Revolution.

ANOS 60 owner Fernando Casanova was, as a journalist, part of the intellectual opposition and in his bar still many discussion about the era of the revolution take place. Fernando contributed for 2 years to the political newspaper “Aqui” which was published during the period of the revolution. The ‘Club de Jornalistas’ in Lapa, which now has 700 members, has a strong connection to the bar.

The clock in ‘ANOS 60′ stands still at 04:10. Stories go round that this was the time that the Carnation Revolution started… But according to Fernando, it has another reason. It has to do with the official closing time: 04:00. In the weekends the bar usually closes later. After dancing the night away you walk out onto the street at 07:00, but the clock still indicates 04:10!

In the month of June, festivities take place all over Portugal to celebrate the three Saints – Santo António, São João and São Pedro. The traditional neighborhoods Mouraria and Alfama are decorated in many colours and all the people are dancing in the streets and having barbeques, mostly sardinhas (sardines).

ANOS 60 participates in the festivities: every Tuesday in June there is dancing and live music at Largo do Terreirinho and ‘ANOS 60′ serves dinner outside.

Menu (20 euro)
Sopa ou entrada (soup or starters)
Prato de peixe ou carne (dish with fish or meat)
Sobremesa (dessert)

ANOS 60
Listen to exclusively Portuguese music from the 60s and 70s.
Largo do Terreirinho 21, 1170 Lisbon. Tel. 21887 3444
Opening times: 21:30h – 04:00h. Smoking is permitted.
The door is always closed, but that doesn’t mean the bar is closed. You have to ring the doorbell, like in many other Portuguese places. The reason for the closed doors is that the owners want to welcome you personally. Many foreigners are unaware of this and miss out on a great experience!.

More about this area…

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