Ceuta Day ( es, Día de Ceuta), celebrated in

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territo ...

on 2 September, is a holiday marking the date when

Pedro de Meneses, 1st Count of Vila Real Pedro de Menezes Portocarrero, (1370 – Ceuta, September 22, 1437) was a 15th-century Portuguese nobleman and military figure. Pedro de Menezes (sometimes modernized as 'de Meneses') was the 2nd Count of Viana do Alentejo, 1st. Count of V ...

), became the first Governor of Ceuta by King John I of Portugal, following the

Conquest of Ceuta The conquest of Ceuta by the Portuguese on 21 August 1415 marks an important step in the beginning of the Portuguese Empire in Africa. History In 711, shortly after the Arab conquest of North Africa, the city of Ceuta was used as a stagi ...

Legend

(while John I of Portugal was canvassing for governors, the young Pedro was nearby, distractedly playing ''choca'' (a kind of Medieval hockey) with a stick of ''zambujeiro'' or Aleo (wild olive tree). Hearing all the high nobles making excuses to avoid the job, the young Pedro de Menezes stepped forward and approached the king with his gaming stick (''aleo'') in hand and told him that, with only that stick, he could defend Ceuta from all the power of Morocco."Eu só com este páu, sou capaz de defender Ceuta, de todo o poder dos mouros", as reported in ''Portugal antigo e moderno'', 1878
p.495
Another recitation of the legend places it a little later, c. 1418, when Pedro de Menezes was visiting Lisbon. He was playing ''truque'' (a type of

shuffleboard Shuffleboard (more precisely deck shuffleboard, and also known as floor shuffleboard) is a game in which players use cues to push weighted discs, sending them gliding down a narrow court, with the purpose of having them come to rest within a ma ...

) in the king's court, when a messenger arrived with the news that the Marinids were assembling an army to retake Ceuta. The king ordered Pedro de Menezes (who was already governor of Ceuta) to return immediately to Ceuta, and promised that he (the king) would do what he could to dispatch reinforcements. D. Pedro de Menezes held up his shuffleboard stick and told the king not to hurry the reinforcements, that he could fend off the might of Morocco with that stick alone. See Z.N. Gonçalves Brandão, 1883, ''Monumentos e lendas de Santarem ''
p.514
/ref> As a result of this story, all future Portuguese governors of Ceuta would be presented with a ''zambujeiro'' staff as a symbol of their office upon their investiture.) The aleo that was used by Pedro is kept in the Church of Santa María de África in Ceuta, the statue of Mary holds the aleo. 'Aleu' or 'aleo' can be seen on the coat of arms of

Alcoutim Alcoutim () is a town and a municipality in southeastern Portugal near the Portugal–Spain border. The population in 2011 was 2,917, in an area of 575.36 km². It is the least densely populated municipality in Portugal. The municipality ...

and

Vila Real Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the North region. It is also the seat of the Douro intermunicipal community and of the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro historical province. The Vila Real municipality cover ...

, where Pedro's descendants were made Count's of Alcoutim or Count's of Vila Real respectively.

References

National days September observances Public holidays in Spain Ceuta Autumn events in Spain {{Holiday-stub