A nation dressing its flag
Once again Portugal is covered with our national flag. All over the country people put up flags as a sign of support for the national team in the FIFA World Cup.We’ve seen this before, during the European Football Championship, held in Portugal in 2004.
In the streets people wear the national colors too, red and green.
As you surely noticed by now I love my country. This said it is rather nice to watch people gathering around a national symbol with pride and having a common goal.
Much could be said about such goal though, or about the fact that these people don’t have the same solidarity when it comes to solving real issues that afflict most of the population. But I’m starting to digress and even worst starting to rant, so back to my issue: where can you see more flags?
In the poorest neighborhoods. Yes, if you go into a social housing area you’ll find at least one flag hanging from every apartment.
Several friends have noticed that too and we talked about it… is it the fact they have so little joys in life that a victory of our national team would be some kind of compensation? Do they love football more than those who live in luxurious houses in selected neighborhoods? Are the rich too uptight to put up flags on their estates? Is it just a fashion issue and flags happen to be cheap enough?
I didn’t have the time to take some pictures of it, but you can take my word for it, plenty of flags, poor area, some flags middle class, no flags, big money.
And no, my flag is not hanging outside... but it will soon be hanging outside the new place!
Tags:Portugal
posted by DCveR at 12:03 AM
20 Comments:
Oooh, exactly the same over here Dcver. I wonder about it too.
(Though here I think it's also because people get embarrassed about flag-waving because it's been co-opted by the British National Party, who are racist xenophobic thugs.)
And while we're on the subject, I'd like to apologise on behalf of my country for the England fans fighting in Germany right now. It's a minority of stupid idiots who ruin our reputation.
I say "Fly the flag!" wherever you are!
One has to be proud of one's country...
Annie is correct about the racists but this shouldn't stop the English from flying the flag for their country...
Ganhamos!!!!!!!
there were some tense moments there.... a lot of fouls and little fairplay. But at the end of the day, i would fly a portuguese flag if i could but i would probably be "decapitated" if i did :D So, i exaggerate a little... I love to see portuguese patriotism as well. i sing along when they play the national anthem at the beginning of the game. DCveR, you have said it before and it is true: portuguese outside usually have a lot of "saudade".
Yeah, no one should be scared of waving his flag. Especially on such occasions!
About the game... It all started because of the lack of fair-play of one of the Dutch (this one who didn't give the ball back after the referee's throw, the same one who was fouled by Deco then). Though I don't have anything against Dutch team (except that one behaviour) I'm glad your team make it to another round. So sad that Deco is out for one game and there's possibility that it'll be the same with Figo...
Weakened Portugal vs. England which didn't play good in last game - it'll be the match :)
Lots of different flags from different countries here. Lots of Brazilians. Wow.
I was backing Portugal yesterday
:-)
Interesting observation!
I guess the much maligned lower class feels so out of the loop with the rest of the world oohing and aahing over celebrities and indulging themselves with whatever advertisers throw at them.
Soccer is a level playing field of sorts and does not discriminate.
I would prefer to eliminate all countries and move away from any nationalistic segregation. Unfortunately that is impossible at this point in time. When I listen to John Lennon sing Imagine I know that I'm a Dreamer. But I'm not the only one!
lots of flags in my neighborhood-- but not cus of world cup- 4th of july...
I was also supporting Portugal! Fly your flags with pride.
So who will be supporting on Saturday afternoon?
WE ARE THROUGH!!!!!!!!
Saturday was quite a day for your team. Good luck! I'll be watching...
ooh! It's like salt in the wound ;-) Well done though on getting through to the semi finals :-)
D,
Congratulations on the footie. The best penalty kickers won. And a nice irony it being Ronaldo who scored the winning goal. If anything it proves that all the money Manchester United paid for him was well spent.
So who will be supporting on Wednesday evening?
Hi DCver :)
During the European Football Championship I was amazed by the joy and "fever" that could be seen here in Portugal, so I talked with people about it and found out that this joy was similar to the one lived at the 1st of May 1974, just after the Revolution - several people made this comparison - interesting, isn't it ? I wondered what this could mean... what could be said about the psychological situation of our society if people turned to football to express their feelings in such an extreme way ? At the end I've come to the conclusion that the Championship was more or less an excuse to be happy in a country where life in general is hard and frustrating for most people. What do you think about this ?
BB
I guess you're right, Ariadne. Someone said in tv (i don't remember who but if I remember correctly it was some football fan asked by reporter) that beeing on such game is not necessarily about the result but about feelings, energy, expression, fun.
wow-- where are you? you could have moved to a different COUNTRY in this amount of time! :)
: )
annie: The world knows not all brits are hooligans. Plus we've got hooligans all over Europe too. Guess there are idiots everywhere.
cream: Sadly all this flag flying didn't help much our national team... oh well, four years from now we'll get another shot at it.
portuguesa: You followed the games their? Great. GH managed to do the same by watching the hispanic TV channels. Guess you had to do the same, huh?
nyasha: Sorry we didn't celebrate 'til the end. As for your 'saudade' I hope you can come back here soon to appease it.
shyha: Sorry about the polish team results.
GG: We've had a couple of Brazillian flags in some areas. An a few from Angola too.
ale: Believe it or not this year I almost forgot the 4th of July and didn't even send the usual regards to my American friends...
Kris: Thanks. We will always do so!
homo escapeons: If you watched right to the end you've probably saw that lousy playing against France...
nml: Not really sorry... after all you couldn't expect me to prefer an English victory. ;)
dan: I'm still puzzled on how Ricardo managed to keep three penalties out...
ariadne: Panem et circenses. No evolution at all as far as it comes to that.
christine: What on earth happened to your blog, girl?
alex: Welcome! I've checked your blogs, guess I'll be popping by them, specially the one with the micro images.
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