Marchas Populares

A night of rivals

Every June, groups from Lisbon's quarters spend a night outdoing each other on foot. Each team picks a theme drawn from Portuguese summer life, such as the manjerico plant or the sea, and dresses to match. Costumes are stitched by hand, and the teams move down an open avenue or inside a walled arena in step with well-known songs. Who takes part depends on the group: some come from a single quarter, others are students, others belong to a club or association. The mood is competitive but good-humoured, more a street spectacle than a solemn procession.

How the contest works

Few viewers realise that the result is settled before the parade itself. Judges watch a private performance in a covered stadium, Altice Arena among them, a few days ahead, and those scores decide which quarter takes the podium. Preparation runs for months: teams sketch themes, sew garments and rehearse long before June arrives. Each competing group also has a godparent, a well-known figure from the city or the country, who lends support and publicity. Television carries the evening live from Avenida da Liberdade to a national audience. Not everyone competes: the children's group of Voz do Operário marches as an invited guest, outside the scoring.

The street party

While the teams march, the rest of Lisbon holds its own celebration. Residents pour into their streets with friends and neighbours, grilling sardines, pouring beer and playing Portuguese songs late into the night. Earlier that same day comes the other half of the pairing, the Weddings of Saint Anthony: couples marry in ceremonies that are both civil and church, televised through the daytime of 12 June. After the vows, the newly-weds join the evening by walking along the avenue. Between the weddings and the parades, the two events fill the city's twelfth and thirteenth of June.

From 1932 to now

The first marches were staged in Lisbon in 1932, led by Leitão de Barros, as one of several June events that mark the Portuguese midsummer. Since then the idea has spread to towns and villages across Portugal, which hold their own versions on the eve of a local holy day. None matches the capital's contest in fame: the Lisbon edition is the one the whole country watches, tied to the feast of St Anthony. Almost a hundred years on, districts still spend months preparing, and each edition ends with a fresh set of winners on the podium.

How Marchas Populares is kept

Months ahead, district teams choose a summer theme, sew costumes and rehearse their routines. Days before the parade, judges score a private performance in a covered arena, and that result stands. On 12 June, couples marry in the city's Saint Anthony ceremonies, then walk the avenue. At night, the quarters march and dance along Avenida da Liberdade before the television cameras, while guest groups such as the child company of Voz do Operário join outside the contest. Residents fill the streets with sardines, beer and music until 13 June dawns.

When and where

The Lisbon contest runs through the night of 12 June into the morning of 13 June, the date Lisbon keeps for St Anthony. It sits within the June season of Portuguese midsummer festivities, and the judges settle their results days earlier.

Lisbon hosts the best-known edition, and its parade fills Avenida da Liberdade, a broad central avenue. Towns and villages elsewhere in Portugal keep the custom too, usually around a holy day of their own choosing.

What Marchas Populares means

For the quarters that take part, the marches are a chance to show what a neighbourhood is made of. Themes borrow from shared summer life, the sea, and plants like manjerico, so each performance works as a small portrait of the city's season. Rivalry drives the night, but it stops at the podium: afterwards, the whole city celebrates together in its streets.

Days Marchas Populares is marked

Questions people ask about Marchas Populares

See also

Processional giantsTowering costumed figures carried through town streets during communal festivalsFesta de São João do PortoPorto's midsummer festival of street feasts, fireworks and playful hammer tapsCaganerA defecating figurine placed in Catalan nativity scenes to bring good luck and fertilize the earth.Camino de SantiagoA Christian walking pilgrimage across Europe to the shrine of Saint James in Spain

Good reading and sources

• Marchas Populares on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.