Portugal Day Festival 2024

CONTACT INFO :

Other Phones : (001) (973) 733-5485 / (001) (973) 733-4755.
Fax : (001) (973) 928-1238.
E-mails : 4311newark@ci.newark.nj.us / info@ci.newark.nj.us .

Google Map : https://www.google.com/maps/place/40%C2%B043'58.4%22N+74%C2%B009'51.1%22W/@40.7329786,-74.1646597,141m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m10!1m5!3m4!2zNDDCsDQzJzU3LjgiTiA3NMKwMDknNDguNiJX!8m2!3d40.7327222!4d-74.1635!3m3!8m2!3d40.732877!4d-74.164201?entry=ttu .
GPS Locations : 40°43'58.4"N 74°09'51.1"W (DMS) / 40.732889, -74.164194 (DD).

ABOUT THE EVENT :

PORTUGAL DAY FESTIVAL 2024.

Portugal Day, officially in Portuguese "Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas" (Day of Portugal, Camões, and the Portuguese Communities), is Portugal's National Day celebrated annually on 10 June. It is one of the public holidays in Portugal and celebrated by Portuguese people throughout the world. It commemorates the death on 10 June 1580 of Luís de Camões, a poet and national literary icon.

Camões wrote "Os Lusíadas" (usually translated as The Lusiads), Portugal's national epic poem celebrating Portuguese history and achievements. The poem focuses mainly on the 15th-century Portuguese explorations, which brought fame and fortune to the country. The poem, considered one of the finest and most important works in Portuguese literature, became a symbol for the great feats of the Portuguese Empire.

Camões was an adventurer who lost one eye fighting in Ceuta, wrote the poem while traveling, and survived a shipwreck in Cochinchina (a region of present-day Vietnam). According to popular folklore, Camões saved his epic poem by swimming with one arm while keeping the other arm above water. Since his date of birth is unknown, his date of death is celebrated as Portugal's National Day.

Although Camões became a symbol for Portugal nationalism, his death coincided with the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 that eventually resulted in Philip II of Spain claiming the Portuguese throne. Portugal was then ruled by three generations of Spanish kings during the Iberian Union (1580–1640). On 1 December 1640, the country regained its independence once again by expelling the Spanish during the Portuguese Restoration War and making John of Bragança, King John IV of Portugal.

During the authoritarian Estado Novo regime in the 20th century, Camões was used as a symbol for the Portuguese nation. In 1944, at the dedication ceremony of the National Stadium in Oeiras (near Lisbon), Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar referred to 10 June as Dia da Raça (Day of the Portuguese Race). The notion of a Portuguese "race" served his nationalist purposes.

Portugal Day celebrations were officially suspended during the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Celebrations resumed after 1974 and were expanded to include the Comunidades Portuguesas (Portuguese Comunities), Portuguese emigrants and their descendants living in communities all around the world.

In the United States, Portuguese-Americans celebrate the holiday throughout the country, especially in Portuguese-American neighborhoods.

The Portugal Day Festival in Newark, New Jersey, is a huge street festival celebrating the Portuguese people, language, and their culture. This festival started in 1979 and has been going strong ever since. The festivities are very popular, not only among Portuguese-Americans but also by other ethnicities. Although there are various happenings about a week before, the actual street festival takes place on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, usually, closest to June 10, the official Portugal Day.

This cultural festival takes months of planning. Plans include inviting guests to be either Grand Marshall, Honorary Grand Marshall, or any of the prized people in attendance over the Portugal Day weekend. There are also many events prior to the big weekend that bring out the Portuguese community. One of these events being the massive Friendship Night Gala.

The festivities are often times broadcasted, live or recorded, to television stations both in the local area as well as in Portugal as well as Portuguese speaking countries in Africa and South America.

On the Sunday of that weekend, there is a parade loaded with many floats from various, both Portuguese and non-Portuguese, organizations from throughout the State. Every year there is a Honorary Grand Marshall, a Grand Marshall, as well as many other prized personalities.

Organized by the Bernardino Coutinho Foundation from 1979 to 2010 and by União de Clubes Luso-Americanos de New Jersey (U.C.L.A.N.J.) from 2011 to 2019, the Portugal Day Festival of the city of Newark is now organized by the Honorary Committee of the organization "Portugal Day Newark Dia de Portugal Newark" since 2023.

The Portugal Day Festival 2024 will take place in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, NJ, around Peter Francisco Park, on April 11th, May 18th and 23rd, and June 1st, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th (these last three days being the epicenter of the festivities).

Start Time : 12:00 PM.
End Time : 11:30 PM.
Artists on Stage : Duo Rotação - Filarmónica Frazoeirense - Ghost Rodents - Grupo Folclórico & Etnográfico Português de Montréal - Jorge Ferreira - Júlia Machado - Os Diatónicos.
Headline Artist / Tour Name / Show Time : JORGE FERREIRA / UM BRINDE A TODOS VÓS TOUR 2024-2025 / 9:30 PM-11:30 PM.

Schedule :

12:00 PM - Opening.
12:30 PM - Live Concert by Duo Rotação.
2:00 PM - Live Concert by Ghost Rodents.
3:30 PM - Live Concert by Filarmónica Frazoeirense (directly from Central Portugal).
5:00 PM - Live Performance by Grupo Folclórico & Etnográfico Português de Montréal (directly from Quebec, Canada).
6:30 PM - Live Concert by Júlia Machado (winner of The Voice Kids Portugal 2023).
8:00 PM - Live Concert by Os Diatónicos (directly from the Douro area, Northern Portugal).
9:30 PM - Live Concert by Jorge Ferreira (Headline Artist).
11:30 PM - Closing.

Free Admission.
More Informations : (001) (908) 285-4046 / info@portugaldaynewarknj.com / diadeportugalnewark@gmail.com .

Outdoor Festival and Show - All Ages Admission - Foods : Sardines, Fibres, Blood Sausages, Chickens, Lobsters, Shrimps, etc. - Beverages : Wine, Beer, Sangria, and many more...

Note : The Festival will be broadcast live by local Portuguese-American television channel SPT TV.

Parking Facilities : Numerous outdoor and indoor parking lots are available near Peter Francisco Stage ; 1. L.D.A. Parking on Congress Street - 2. Edison ParkFast at 386 Market Street - 3. 48 Commercial Street Parking at 48 Commercial Street - 4. Jesse Parking, LLC at 937 Raymond Boulevard - 5. 60-68 Raymond Boulevard Parking at 60-68 Raymond Boulevard - 6. Alling Street At Newark Penn Station at 10 Alling Street - 7. Penn Station Parking at 1 City Dock Street - 8. B Parking at 2-52 Cherry Street - 9. One Newark Center Parking at 42 Mulberry Street - 10. SP+ Parking, NJPAC Surface Lot A & C on Mulberry Street and Center Street - 11. Edison ParkFast at 82 Edison Place - 12. Gateway South Garage at 87 Edison Place - 13. Edison ParkFast at 97 Lafayette Street - 14. Park Zone 13 Yellow at 81 Lafayette Street - 15. Edison ParkFast at 82 Lafayette Street - 16. Park Zone 5 Green at 232 Mulberry Street - 17. Park Zone 3 - 4 Green at 56 Green Street.

Organized by Portugal Day Newark Dia de Portugal Newark's Honorary Committee.
Website : https://portugaldaynewarknj.com/honorary-committee .