There are popular festivals all over Portugal, but few have the power to transform an entire town quite like the Campo Maior People’s Festivities. For several days, dozens of streets are completely covered in paper flowers, creating a colorful and almost surreal landscape.
What makes this huge transformation even more remarkable is that it isn’t organized by an events company, nor is it held every year according to a fixed calendar. It is the people of Campo Maior themselves who decide when they want to bring the festival back and who spend months preparing the flowers, designs, and decorations for their streets.
And there is much more behind these flowers than meets the eye. There are techniques passed down through generations, community work, creativity, competition between streets, and a strong connection between the festival and the identity of the town itself.
It is for all these reasons that the Campo Maior People’s Festivities were recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021.
What Are the Festas do Povo of Campo Maior?
The Festas do Povo consist of decorating the streets of Campo Maior with paper flowers and other handmade decorative elements. Each street creates its own decorations and, for a few days, is completely transformed.
There is no single decoration or theme for the entire town. Each street has its own designs, colors, decorative elements, and themes, which change from one edition to the next.
Another distinctive feature is that the Festas do Povo take place “when the people want them to.” There is no fixed schedule, and the decision to hold them comes from the local community itself.
“When the People Want”: How the Festas Are Organized
Each street organizes its participation through a local committee, which coordinates the work and prepares the decorations. Everything begins many months in advance, when the designs are created, the colors are chosen, and the tasks are divided. One of the most fascinating things about the Festas do Povo is that no two streets are alike.
The work involves people of all ages. Some make the flowers, others prepare the structures, while others take care of different parts of the decorations. For months, each street keeps what it is preparing a secret until the time comes for the enramação.
In the 2026 edition, 93 streets took part, involving more than 4,000 volunteers.
To help visitors experience the entire festival, there is also a Festas do Povo passport, where you can collect a stamp on each participating street. It’s a simple but very clever idea: it turns your visit into something of a treasure hunt and encourages you to explore Campo Maior from one end to the other.
And that’s a good thing because, after seeing a few streets, you already feel like you’ve understood the scale of the festival. Until you discover another ten, and another ten, and another ten…
History of the Festas do Povo of Campo Maior
The origins of the Festas do Povo date back to the late 19th century and are linked to celebrations in honor of Saint John the Baptist. There are references to festivities held in the 1890s, although it is impossible to determine with complete certainty exactly when the current Festas do Povo began.
At the time, the program was quite different from what we see today, with processions, music, popular festivities, dances, and other celebrations. There are also references to paper flowers being used to decorate the streets. Over time, the decorations became increasingly important until they evolved into the element that most distinguishes the Festas today.
Throughout their history, the festivities have been known by different names, including Festas dos Artistas and Festas das Flores. From 1922 onward, they became officially known as the Festas do Povo, and the tradition continued to evolve over the decades, gradually moving away from celebrations in honor of Saint John the Baptist and developing into the festival we know today.
There were periods when the festivities were held fairly regularly, sometimes for several consecutive years, and others when many years passed without an edition. After the 2015 edition, an especially long break followed. In 2026, eleven years later, Campo Maior finally filled with flowers once again.
Months of Work for a Festival That Lasts Just a Few Days
It takes months of work to produce the paper flowers of Campo Maior that eventually cover its streets. In 2026, around 50 tons of paper were used.
But perhaps the number of flowers isn’t even the most impressive thing. All it takes is a closer look to realize that this isn’t simply about making flowers by the thousands, but thousands of unique flowers, each made with dedication and attention to detail.
If I had to pick a favorite, I’d go with the sunflowers. The way they are built, petal by petal, is impressive. But perhaps the roses best show the attention to detail: some more open, others more closed, in different colors and even with petals in several shades.
The folds, cuts, and way each flower is put together all vary, and the result reveals a technique that isn’t learned in just a few days. Behind every flower is a technique and body of knowledge that have been refined over the years.
The Enramação: The Night Campo Maior Is Transformed
After months of preparing flowers and working on the decorations, the time finally comes for the enramação of the Festas do Povo, when everything is placed in the streets to create the festival’s spectacular displays.
It is during the night that the structures prepared by the different streets are assembled and covered with flowers and other decorative elements. What has been kept hidden for months finally takes shape and, the following morning, Campo Maior emerges completely transformed.
It’s hard to imagine the scale of the Festas do Povo without seeing the streets like this. The buildings almost disappear beneath the flowers, and what existed for months only as designs, boxes, and decorations stored in people’s homes suddenly fills the entire streets.
I was disappointed not to get an aerial photo of the streets. It’s probably the only angle capable of showing the full scale of it all at once.
Much More Than Flowers: The Culture Behind the Festas
Perhaps it’s difficult to understand the community spirit behind the Festas do Povo from photographs alone. But when you visit, it’s impossible not to notice how involved the people of Campo Maior are.
Families have dinner in the streets, people sell products from their doorsteps, and residents proudly show off what they have created. It’s a festival made by the people of Campo Maior, but one that opens its doors to anyone who wants to visit.
It doesn’t feel like a festival created for tourists and then opened to the public. First, it belongs to the people who make it happen. Then, for a few days, Campo Maior opens its doors and invites the rest of the country to experience it. And perhaps that is one of the things that most contributes to the Festas’ unique identity.
There are also other traditions associated with the festival, such as the Saias de Campo Maior. This is a traditional dance from the Alto Alentejo, sung and danced to the sound of tambourines and castanets. We were disappointed not to be able to watch the performance.
There is also a food area with several food stalls, although I felt that Alentejo cuisine could have had a stronger presence. You’ll also find entertainment areas and initiatives organized by local companies. Delta Cafés is, naturally, very present.
The Delta area had mini-games, products for sale and giveaways—a kind of festival within the festival. It feels a little different from the atmosphere of the decorated streets, but it works, and I thought it was nice to see such an obvious connection with Campo Maior.
And there is a reason for that. The relationship between Delta, Rui Nabeiro, and Campo Maior is difficult to separate from the identity of the town itself. The 2026 edition was also especially meaningful because it was the first one held after the death of Rui Nabeiro, founder of Delta Cafés and one of the most important figures in Campo Maior’s recent history. His connection to the Festas and the local community was also remembered during this edition.
Why Are the Festas do Povo UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage?
The Festas do Povo were inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. But what was recognized wasn’t simply the streets covered in flowers.
The heritage lies in the knowledge and techniques used to make the flowers and decorate the streets, in the organization of the street committees, in the community’s participation, and in the transmission of these skills and traditions. UNESCO itself highlights the role of the street committees and the community’s decision to hold the Festas.
That is precisely why they are considered intangible heritage. The flowers are temporary and disappear at the end of the festival. But the knowledge needed to make them, the way the streets are organized, and the entire tradition that allows the Festas to take place again remain alive.
Without the people of Campo Maior, there would be no flowers—but there would also be no Festas in the first place.
An Ephemeral Festival: Months to Create, Days to Experience
There is something curious about the Festas do Povo: after months of work and thousands of handmade flowers, everything lasts only a few days.
In the end, the streets are dismantled and most of the flowers cease to exist. It’s perhaps the strangest part of it all. After seeing those streets completely covered, it’s hard to imagine that, not long afterward, they will go back to being ordinary streets.
I also found myself wondering what happens to everything afterward. With around 50 tons of paper used for this edition, that’s an enormous amount of work and material that disappears within just a few days.
It’s true that the tradition doesn’t disappear when the Festas come to an end. The Casa das Flores in Campo Maior keeps the history and craftsmanship of the Festas accessible to visitors throughout the year, and there are also other initiatives that aim to keep the flowers and this tradition alive between editions.
Still, I couldn’t help wondering whether the day the decorations are taken down could also be used somehow. It could become a small event, with some of the flowers sold or given away, perhaps even inviting people to take part in this final chapter of the Festas. I don’t know how practical that would be, but it seems like a nice way to extend the experience and, above all, give the flowers a second life.
Perhaps this ephemeral nature is also part of the charm. The Festas come to an end, the flowers disappear, and whenever the people decide to hold them again, it all begins once more.
Conclusion
The Festas do Povo are easy to admire for their scale and the beauty of the streets, but the more attention you pay, the more you realize that their true charm lies in the details: the differences between each street, the flowers made one by one, the knowledge needed to create them, and the pride of those who spend months preparing it all.
Before visiting Campo Maior, I thought this would be just another big popular festival. I left understanding why the Festas do Povo are so special. It’s not just what we see in the streets. It’s everything behind them.
When will the next Festas do Povo take place? The people will decide… and we’ll be there.
Save it for later so you don’t forget!