Caeiro had long carried a quiet but resolute spirit of resistance. In her early adulthood, while working at a tobacco shop, she secretly passed banned books to revolutionaries, concealing them beneath bags of tobacco. So when the MFA surrounded Lisbon to overthrow the dictatorship, it felt only natural for her to want to witness history unfolding firsthand.
The morning of April 25th, 1974, Celeste Caeiro headed to work as a cloakroom attendant at a bustling restaurant in the center of Lisbon. Her restaurant had been preparing for their first anniversary, where they had planned to hand out red and white carnations to patrons in celebration. However, this anniversary coincided with the MFA’s plans to usurp the dictator. Caeiro’s boss closed the restaurant, fearing potential unrest, sending her home with the carnations. Intrigued, Caerio travelled straight to central Lisbon’s Rossio square, where MFA tanks and infantry encircled the square, alerting residents that they were there to challenge the dictator.
