O Portuguese Language Day, also called the Day of the Portuguese Language and Culture at CPLP, is celebrated in May 5th.
This is the international day, as all countries whose mother tongue is Portuguese (so-called Lusophones) celebrate this date.
They are: Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor.
In addition to that, there is the National Day of the Portuguese Language, which is also the day of Brazilian culture, celebrated in November 5th in Brazil.
How did the date come about?
The celebration of the Portuguese Language Day, May 5, was created in Cape Verde in 2009.
The National Day of the Portuguese Language, celebrated on November 5th, was established by Law No. 11,310, of June 12th, 2006. The date was chosen due to the birth of Rui Barbosa, Brazilian writer and politician who dedicated himself deeply to the study of the language. He was born on November 5, 1849.
In Portugal, the Portuguese reserve the day June 10, Portugal Day and national holiday, to celebrate the Portuguese language. It was on that day, in 1580, that one of the greatest poets of our language, Luís de Camões, died.
Activities for the day
With the aim of celebrating the use of one of the most spoken languages in the world, Portuguese-speaking countries usually develop activities that focus on the appreciation of the Portuguese language.
Thus, meetings with writers, conferences, theatrical presentations, film transmissions, poetry recitations, among others, are promoted.
In schools, teachers can organize activities such as:
- carry out the Portuguese language week, with a range of activities
- show films or documentaries about the history of the Portuguese language
- propose some challenges of lock languages
- run essay or poetry contests
- bring students together and perform theatrical performances on the theme
Tributes to the Portuguese Language
Sentences
- "My homeland is the Portuguese language." (Fernando Pessoa)
- "His words, even in loud and good Portuguese, seem to no longer speak my language." (Gabito Nunes)
- “The language speaks for itself. The importance of dealing with language, whether through museums, programs, orthographic agreements, or through processes of liberalization of new speeches, language is important. Language is our mother. The museum takes care of all aspects of written and spoken language, dynamic language, the language of interaction, the language of affect, the language of gesture, and all of that this museum will take care of.” (Gilberto Gil)
Poem
Portuguese language
“Latium's last flower, uncultivated and beautiful,
You are, at the same time, splendor and grave:
Native gold, which in impure denim
The crude mine among the gravel sailsI love myself like this, unknown and obscure
Clinking tuba, simple lyre,
That you have the trumpet and the hiss of the storm,
And the list of nostalgia and tenderness!I love your wild freshness and your aroma
Of virgin jungles and the wide ocean!
I love thee, O rude and painful language,In which from the maternal voice I heard: "my son!",
And when Camões wept, in bitter exile,
The blissful genius and the lackluster love!”(Olav Bilac)
Read too: May commemorative dates
