(24 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Porto, Portugal – 23 June 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1.Various of people celebrating by hammering each other in the head with plastic hammers
2.Various of people at Guindais area
3.Various of tourists from Finland
4.SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Helni Turtaea, 21-year-old tourist from Finland:
“At first I got so frightened when someone hit me, I’m more of an introvert person, for me its difficult to start hitting people but it has been so much fun because I think it kind of unites people when they are hitting strangers.”
5.SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Vasisht, tourist from India:
“Very very nice, this hammering is really excellent.”
(Reporter’s question: is it relaxing?)
“Yeah it is relaxing also, because in the household you get big hammers, here you get soft hammers (laughs with family).”
6. Wide of crowd as Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro is being approached by people and hammers
7. Various of people celebrating by hammering each other in the head with a plastic hammer
STORYLINE:
June is the month when each Portuguese city celebrates its patron saint through huge street parties that attract thousands of people.
In Porto, northern Portugal, Sao João , or Saint John, is celebrated by the unique tradition of using a plastic hammer to hit passersby on the street.
The celebrations date back to pagan times, when rituals included buying leek flowers to bring good fortune.
Today, the tradition is still to use this flower and invite strangers to have a sniff of its intense smell, but since the 1960s when the plastic hammer was introduced by a local businessman, it has stayed to become the most famous symbol of Porto’s summer celebration.
This is considered the longest and most special night of the year for local revelers and visitors.
There are fireworks, traditional balloons in the sky and sardines, but the highlight of the night is the freedom to use your plastic hammer on friends and strangers without starting a fight.
Even Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro joined in the festivities, as he was seen enjoying himself in the Fontainhas neighbourhood which overlooks the Douro river with an unique scenic view.
Some people posed for a photographs with Montenegro, but several others just saluted him with their hammers.
AP Video shot by Helena Alves
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