Portugal's former president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was recently filmed participating in a centuries-old Coimbra graduation ritual that would raise eyebrows in most modern democracies: giving final-year university students a swift kick to the backside. The video, circulating widely on social media, shows the charismatic ex-leader cheerfully completing the entire ceremonial sequence with multiple graduates in what locals call the pontapé no rabo tradition.
Why This Matters
• Cultural insight: The ritual symbolizes a "good luck push" into adult life and is deeply embedded in Coimbra's academic identity
• Academic celebration: The encounter occurred during the Queima das Fitas festival (typically held in May), Portugal's largest student celebration
• National character: Rebelo de Sousa's participation reflects Portugal's unique blend of formal institutions and informal, tactile social customs
The Ritual Unfolds
The chance encounter happened when the former Portuguese head of state walked into a Coimbra restaurant where students were celebrating their graduation. According to his office, confirming details to CNN Portugal, the finalists approached him and requested he honor the tradition.
Video footage captures Rebelo de Sousa greeting a student dressed in full academic regalia—the iconic black cape, red cap, and ceremonial cane (cana) in hand. The sequence follows a precise formula: three taps of the cane against the cap, three kisses on the cheeks, and one emphatic kick to the rear. After each completed ritual, laughter erupts from the surrounding students.
The ex-president performed the ceremony with at least 3 different graduates visible in the recording, showing no hesitation as each student turned their back to receive the symbolic boot. His enthusiasm and the students' delight suggest a mutual understanding of the gesture's playful nature, despite its physical directness.
Ancient Origins in a Modern Context
The pontapé no rabo traces its roots to 19th-century Coimbra, though its precise beginnings remain murky. Anthropologist António Rodrigues Lopes suggests the practice evolved from an older, more violent hazing ritual called canelão (shin-kicking), which university rectors officially banned but which persisted for years afterward.
The transformation from canelão to the gentler kick may have coincided with football's arrival in Coimbra, adopting the sport's kicking motion but redirecting it toward symbolic purpose rather than punishment. What began as raw student-on-student violence gradually softened into a rite of passage administered by elders, professors, or even willing dignitaries.
Today's version sits within the broader Queima das Fitas celebrations—a week-long festival marking the end of the academic year at the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290 and Portugal's oldest higher education institution. The festival includes the solemn Serenata Monumental, satirical parade floats (Cortejo dos Quartanistas), and nightly concerts centered at Praça da Canção.
What This Means for Expats and Observers
For foreigners living in or visiting Portugal, moments like these can feel jarring. The sight of a former national leader enthusiastically kicking students contradicts the formal protocols common in many Western democracies. Yet it offers a window into Portuguese social dynamics: hierarchy exists but operates with surprising flexibility and warmth.
The academic traditions of Coimbra—black capes, colored ribbons (fitas) representing each faculty, ceremonial canes—create a parallel world where students inhabit medieval symbolism while preparing for 21st-century careers. The kick represents the final nudge from student life into professional reality, a physical metaphor that Portuguese culture embraces without irony.
Rebelo de Sousa, who served as president until earlier this year, built his political brand partly on accessibility and spontaneity. He's known for hugging citizens, taking selfies with strangers, and showing up unannounced at local events. This latest episode fits that pattern, demonstrating how Portugal's elite often maintain closer proximity to everyday rituals than their counterparts elsewhere.
The Broader Academic Landscape
While Coimbra remains the epicenter of Portuguese university tradition, similar practices have spread to Porto and Lisbon with local variations. Porto's Queima das Fitas, organized by the Federação Académica do Porto, mirrors Coimbra's structure with a May festival, academic parade, and concerts that temporarily transform the city.
The colored ribbons burned during these ceremonies originated from 19th-century students who tied their sebentas (lecture notes compilations) with fabric strips. Each color now represents a specific faculty: law students wear red, medicine wears yellow, humanities sports blue. The ritual burning symbolizes liberation from academic burdens, though modern versions are more theatrical than literal.
The black cape and gown (capa e batina) worn by Portuguese university students since the 19th century was designed as an equalizer—wealthy and poor students dressed identically, eliminating visible class distinctions. This democratic symbolism persists, though participation in academic traditions remains voluntary, and controversy occasionally surfaces around hazing practices that cross from symbolic into humiliating.
Practical Context for Residents
Understanding these traditions helps decode Portuguese social life, particularly in university cities during academic milestones. If you encounter caped students in May or October (the academic opening Latada), expect noise, street closures, and crowds. Local businesses adjust hours, hotels fill months in advance, and restaurants near campus areas get overwhelmed.
The voluntary nature of these rituals matters for anyone with children approaching university age. Students can decline participation in praxe (hazing) without academic penalty, though social pressure varies by institution and peer group. Recent years have seen increased emphasis on solidarity-focused initiation activities rather than humiliation-based ones.
For cultural observers, the willingness of a 75-year-old former president to perform this physical ritual—captured on video for public consumption—illustrates Portugal's comfort with informal leadership styles and physical expressions of social connection. In a country where business meetings often end with kisses on both cheeks regardless of gender, the graduation kick sits on a continuum of tactile tradition rather than standing out as exceptional.
The ceremony of Bênção das Pastas (Blessing of the Portfolios) offers a contrasting solemnity—religious authorities blessing students' briefcases in a Catholic ritual that coexists with the irreverent kicks and satirical parade floats. This duality defines much of Portuguese institutional life: respect for tradition alongside playful subversion of authority.
The Digital Echo
Social media has amplified these moments beyond their original audience. What once happened exclusively within the University of Coimbra's medieval stone courtyards now reaches millions instantly. Rebelo de Sousa's office confirmed the encounter was spontaneous rather than staged, though the ex-president's long history of participating in folk traditions suggests he knew exactly what he was agreeing to.
The viral spread raises questions about how ancient rituals function in the smartphone era. Students who might have quietly completed the ceremony now perform it for cameras, aware their graduation kick could trend nationally. Yet the emotional core—the mixture of relief, nostalgia, and anticipation that defines graduation worldwide—remains intact beneath the spectacle.
Portugal's academic traditions survive precisely because they blend formality with irreverence, creating memorable experiences that distinguish Portuguese university life from the standardized cap-and-gown ceremonies common elsewhere. The kick tradition, strange as it appears to outsiders, functions as a pressure release valve—a moment of sanctioned chaos before graduates enter professional life's structured expectations.
