June is the month of celebrations and festivities for the Popular Saints throughout Portugal on the nights of St. Anthony, St. John and St. Peter.
The main ones are the Festas de Lisboa, on 12 and 13 June, St. Anthony’s day, and in Porto on the night of 23/24 June when St. John is celebrated.
In Lisbon, people from every neighborhood parade down Avenida da Liberdade, filling this major road with colorful characters in costume, folk music, and throngs of spectators. But the crowds and liveliness also fill the narrow back streets, particularly in Alfama, but also Graça, Bica, Mouraria and Madragoa. In the mediaeval squares and alleyways, people eat cabbage soup and grilled sardines, singing and dancing the whole night long.
The festivities are just as colorful and lively in Porto, in the more traditional neighborhoods that include Miragaia, Fontainhas, Ribeira, and Massarelos. But Porto has other habits and customs: the old tradition was for revelers to beat each other on the head with a leek, but now they use plastic hammers; and besides the firework display at midnight on the River Douro in the center of Porto, people also release colorful hot air balloons into the sky, making one of the most beautiful spectacles in these popular celebrations.
Wine is a big part of these celebrations and with the grilled sardines you can go for a red, a white or a rose wine, because during this festivities there is no rule in terms of food pairing.
The Vidigal Porta 6 wines, the Parras wines Alfacinha and the Santos da Casa wines are good options because all of these wines are under the Popular Saints thematic.
Vidigal Porta 6 because of the Lisbon Mouraria street in the label that made the wine so famous, Alfacinha also with the Lisbon tram in the label and Santos da Casa whose name refers to the Popular saints from Portugal.
All the wines are great options to celebrate, either in a Lisbon or Porto, or in any place or occasion that askes for a good wine.
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