Dia de Portugal Festival, San Jose, CA

What is Dia de Portugal? Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas is the formal name for a worldwide event celebrated on June 10th in Portuguese speaking countries as well as other countries with significant populations of people of Portuguese heritage. Dia de Portugal, or Day of Portugal, a national holiday in Portugal, commemorates the life of Luis de Camões, Portugal's greatest poet, and recognizes the valuable contributions of the many Portuguese communities worldwide. In the United States, people of Portuguese descent are concentrated in New England, the East Coast (New York, New Jersey), Florida, California and Hawaii. Annually, they join with their fellow Americans to celebrate their Portuguese heritage and culture during June.The banquets, concerts, folklore programs, flag raising ceremonies, and other events that take place provide an opportunity to share the Portuguese heritage. It's a chance to learn more about the contributions that Portuguese speaking communities and Portuguese speaking immigrants have made towards the advancement of humanity.Dia de Portugal in California The 2000 US Census shows that almost 340,974 Californians identified themselves as being of Portuguese heritage. That figure represents the largest number of Portuguese-Americans for any one state in the United States. With so many Portuguese-Americans and their descendants working together in California, we have a wonderful opportunity to organize events around the state and showcase the Portuguese heritage and culture to our larger community.