You've probably seen the red and green posters that have appeared in the center of Tours in recent weeks. The first edition of the Portugal Festival in Tours will take place this weekend, from Friday 31 May to 2 June.
At the head of the team: four friends who love Portugal, united behind an association: Les Mousquetos. “It's a friend's project.”Nicolas Dias, a member of the association, confirms: A project launched a few years ago, and thus came to fruition in 2024. A date that is not due to chance because it coincides with the fifty years of the Carnation Revolution. “We really wanted to leave this memory behind us.” He adds.
Three events
It has nothing to do with the racist insult case, which saw the president of the Metropole de Tours, Frédéric Augés, convicted by the courts for insulting one of the vice-presidents of the capital. “dirty portuguese”. “We did not do this festival in response to anything. We are not doing politics. We want to talk about Portugal in a festive way.“, explains Nicolas Dias.
A celebration of Lusitanian culture will take place in three stages and aims to be anything but a community festival. “There are things that need to be created and put in place. We want to raise awareness that we have a big community in Turin.Nicolas Dias identifies himself as of Portuguese descent (i.e., he has Portuguese ancestry): It's an incredible fortune to have this dual culture. I'm 100% French and 100% Portuguese, so 200% European. »
The festival will open on Friday 31 May at 6pm with a conference hosted by Luis Paleta, Honorary Consul of Portugal in Tours, on Franco-Portuguese relations over the centuries in the Central Library of Tours hall.
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Saturday 1any In June, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., awareness workshops in Portuguese will be offered by the Luynes Portuguese-speaking Association at the Fontaines and François-Mitterrand media libraries and the Paul-Carlat library.
One of these workshops will take place at the Les Beaux Gosses bar (from 5pm to 6:30pm), located on rue Georges-Courteline. A place that owes nothing to chance. “It is one of the main points of the Portuguese community in Tours,” Nicolas Dias explains.
The festival concludes on Sunday, June 2, with a cinematic discussion at the CGR Tours Center about the film Captain AprilWhich talks about the Clove Revolution (from 5 pm to 8 pm). “These are three qualitative events.”Nicholas Dias.
The first edition that allows us to test the waters and highlight Portuguese culture. A print that will appeal to others “A more ambitious program by adding a more festive aspect, for example a fado party, traditional dance and a gastronomic aspect. We are setting milestones to solidify this event. There are a lot of bridges to be built and connections to be created.”.
