April of Freedom

Another 25th of April has passed...
For the non-Portuguese, on April, 25th we comemorate the Revolution (1974) that ended the dictatorship that started in 1926, known after 1933 as "Estado Novo" (new state).

Why the Carnation on top of the G3 rifle as a simbole?
Well, opposite to expected by many people, specially worldwide, the military revolution was made whit very little violence and shots fired.
One of the stories told about the carnations is that a flower seller that met one of the military columns in the capital, offered the soldiers its carnations which were putten on the barrels of the G3 rifles and the images of the Revolution are of soldiers with carnations on the rifles and not firing bullets.

Anyway this last April, 25th was a Saturday, so decided to go downtown with my wife and daugther for a wallk in the exhibit mounted for the Flower Festival, one of Madeira biggest Touristic Events....
When I got there...Well..must admit that I got really surprise for finding these hang on a constructing building (althoug cuurrently stoped), the old "Minas Gerais"...


Those are FLAMA flags...that's something I'd only seen in history books, or when a kid, as faded paintings in old walls...
FLAMA was a movement for the Independency of Madeira, from Portugal, that made a few blows after the revolution...
Later on heard on the news that they were hang in a few more places, including the S.Lourenço Palace, a simbol of National Soberany....

The return of old ghosts?...
Well, I guess 35 years is yet too litle time for some things to fade...and this was probably just a "serious" joke...