The National Day of Portugal celebrated annually on 10 June. It is one of the public holidays in Portugal and celebrated by Portuguese people throughout the world. It commemorates the death on 10 June 1580 of Luís de Camões, a poet and national literary icon.
Camões wrote Os Lusíadas (usually translated as The Lusíadas), Portugal's national epic poem celebrating Portuguese history and achievements. The poem focuses mainly on the 15th-century Portuguese explorations, which brought fame and fortune to the country. The poem, considered one of the finest and most important works in Portuguese literature, became a symbol for the great feats of the Portuguese Empire.
Camões was an adventurer who lost one eye fighting in Ceuta, wrote the poem while traveling, and survived a shipwreck in Cochinchina (a region of present-day Vietnam). According to popular folklore, Camões saved his epic poem by swimming with one arm while keeping the other arm above water. Since his date of birth is unknown, his date of death is celebrated as Portugal's National Day.