Santos Populares PartyThrow a June Festa at Home
Plan a Santos Populares party at home: sardines, bifanas, caldo verde, manjericos with their verses, paper garlands, music and a simple plan for the night.
By Mesa de Portugal Kitchen · Updated · 7 min read
A Santos Populares party at home is a backyard arraial: paper garlands overhead, sardines on the grill, bifanas for anyone who doesn't do fish, caldo verde late at night, a pot of basil with a little verse for each guest, cold drinks and Portuguese party music. Hold it on or around 12 June (Santo António) or 23 June (São João).
What the festivals are and where they happen is covered in our Santos Populares food guide. This is the practical part: how to throw one yourself.
When to throw your arraial
The three saints' nights give you three dates to choose from:
- 12 June: the eve of Santo António, Lisbon's big night.
- 23 June: the eve of São João, Porto's party.
- 28 June: the eve of São Pedro, celebrated in towns such as Póvoa de Varzim and Sintra.
Any warm Friday or Saturday evening in June works. Start in the early evening and plan for it to run late. A real arraial doesn't get going until dark.
The food: keep it street-stall simple
An arraial is eaten standing up, with your hands, off paper napkins and a slice of bread. Don't plate anything. Set up stations.
The grill: sardines on bread
Grilled sardines are the non-negotiable. Allow 3 to 4 sardines per person if most guests eat fish. Salt them with coarse salt half an hour before, grill them over very hot coals for 3 to 4 minutes a side, and serve each one on a thick slice of bread that catches the juices. Our guide to grilling sardines has the full method, and the air fryer sardines save the night if it rains.
The meat option: bifanas and pão com chouriço
Not everyone eats sardines. Bifanas, garlicky pork steaks in a soft roll, are the arraial's other classic. Marinate the pork the day before, then cook to order. Use our bifana recipe. Two air fryer baskets let you run sardines and bifanas at the same time if you're not using a grill.
Ninja Foodi 8 Qt DualZone Air Fryer
Two drawers that finish together: bacalhau in one, batatas a murro in the other. Ideal for Portuguese meals, which are usually a main plus a side.
Tip: Use the sync-finish button so both drawers are ready at the same moment.
Pão com chouriço, bread baked with chouriço inside, is sold at almost every stall in Lisbon. Buy it from a Portuguese bakery or simply serve grilled chouriço assado with bread.
Late night: caldo verde
Around midnight, bring out a big pot of caldo verde, the potato and kale soup, served in mugs or small bowls with a slice of chouriço. It's what keeps an arraial going until the early hours. Make the base in the afternoon and add the kale 5 minutes before serving.
The table
- Salada de pimentos: roasted red peppers with garlic, olive oil and vinegar. Make it in the morning.
- Bread, lots of it: about one large loaf for every four guests, more if you're doing sardines.
- Something sweet: a tray of pastéis de nata or a big bowl of arroz doce.
Drinks for a June festa
- Cold beer in a tub of ice. The default.
- Sangria: a jug of red wine with orange, lemon, a little sugar and sparkling water.
- Vinho Verde, well chilled.
- Ginjinha in small shot glasses for later. See our ginjinha guide.
Serve sangria in a big painted jug, refilled through the night.
Hand-painted Portuguese pottery pitcher
A blue hand-painted ceramic jug, 900 ml, for water, sangria or wine at the table.
Tip: Handmade, so each piece is unique.
The manjerico and its verse
The manjerico is a small pot of bush basil with a paper carnation and a paper flag stuck into it. The flag carries a quadra, a four-line folk verse, usually about love, Lisbon or the saint. In Lisbon, couples give them to each other for Santo António.
To make your own:
- Buy small pots of bush basil (the small-leaved variety, sometimes sold as Greek basil). Allow one per guest or one per couple.
- Make a paper carnation from coloured tissue paper on a cocktail stick.
- Write a short quadra on a small paper flag and tuck it in the pot.
A quadra has four lines, and the second and fourth usually rhyme. Write your own, in Portuguese or English. Here's a simple one you can use:
- Este manjerico é teu,
- dou-to com todo o carinho,
- cheira a junho e a Lisboa
- e a sardinha no pão quentinho.
In English: "This basil is yours, I give it with all my affection, it smells of June and Lisbon, and of sardines on warm bread."
Decorations
Arraial decorations are cheap, bright and handmade.
- Paper garlands: zigzag strings of coloured paper (fitas) or little flags (bandeirinhas) criss-crossed overhead.
- Paper lanterns (balões) in bright colours, hung from trees or a pergola.
- Festoon lights for when it gets dark.
- Sardines everywhere: paper sardine cut-outs on the tables, or a ceramic sardine as a centrepiece.
- Plastic hammers (martelinhos) if you're throwing a São João party, for gentle taps on the head.
- Paper tablecloths in red and green, or white with printed sardines.
Bordallo Pinheiro ceramic sardine
Every June, Bordallo Pinheiro asks artists to paint its ceramic sardine for the Lisbon festivals. A small piece of Portugal for a shelf or wall, and a great gift.
Tip: Each design is by a different artist. This one is "10 Springs" by Gonçalo Viana.
Music
An arraial needs loud, singalong music. Mix three things:
- Marchas populares: the brass-band marches from Lisbon's neighbourhood parades.
- Popular Portuguese party music, the cheerful dance songs played at every summer festa.
- Classic Lisbon songs for when the night slows down, like Amália Rodrigues' Cheira a Lisboa or Carlos do Carmo's Lisboa, Menina e Moça.
Make sure there's space to dance. At a real arraial, everyone does.
A simple plan for the day
- Day before: marinate the bifana pork. Make the paper flags and verses. Buy basil pots.
- Morning: make the pepper salad and the caldo verde base. Hang garlands and lights.
- Two hours before: light the charcoal an hour before guests arrive. Salt the sardines 30 minutes before grilling. Make the sangria.
- Guests arrive: hand out the manjericos, pour drinks, start the music.
- First hour: grill sardines and bifanas in batches as people get hungry.
- Around midnight: heat the soup, add the kale, serve in mugs.
For a calmer, sit-down version of a Portuguese evening, see our Portuguese dinner party menu. For a full BBQ spread, see our Portuguese churrasco guide.
What you’ll need
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Ninja Foodi 8 Qt DualZone Air Fryer
Two drawers that finish together: bacalhau in one, batatas a murro in the other. Ideal for Portuguese meals, which are usually a main plus a side.
Tip: Use the sync-finish button so both drawers are ready at the same moment.
Hand-painted Portuguese pottery pitcher
A blue hand-painted ceramic jug, 900 ml, for water, sangria or wine at the table.
Tip: Handmade, so each piece is unique.
Bordallo Pinheiro ceramic sardine
Every June, Bordallo Pinheiro asks artists to paint its ceramic sardine for the Lisbon festivals. A small piece of Portugal for a shelf or wall, and a great gift.
Tip: Each design is by a different artist. This one is "10 Springs" by Gonçalo Viana.
Frequently asked
What food is served at Santos Populares?
When are the Santos Populares in Portugal?
What is a manjerico?
How many sardines per person for a party?
What music is played at a Portuguese arraial?
Recipes from this story
Air FryerSardinhas Assadas in the Air FryerGrilled Sardines
The smell of Lisbon in June, without a charcoal grill: whole salted sardines crisped in the air fryer, served on bread with roasted pepper salad.
Air FryerBifanas with an Air Fryer Shortcut
The Portuguese garlic pork sandwich. Marinate the pork, air fry it fast, then dunk it in the reduced wine sauce, just like the snack bars in Lisbon.
TraditionalCaldo VerdePortuguese Green Soup
Portugal's national soup: a silky potato base, ribbons of finely shredded greens and a slice of chouriço on top. Simple, cheap and done in 40 minutes.