On the 24th of June, Macau City Day, the International Institute of Macau held a session open to the public, to commemorate the historic event that marked Macau on that day, in 1622, of the victory over the Dutch who tried to take over Macau, on the day of St. John´s the Baptist, for which the city council consecrated him Patron of the City.
The session was simply intended to honor him, reminding the population of a promise that had been made nearly 400 years ago.
Since 2018, the IIM has been carrying out different events, aimed at students and the younger generation, for a continued promotion of this event, which may help the population to better understand the importance of this date, and contribute to improving the sense of belonging and a better perception for the importance of preserving this memory, which has recently been commemorated through a Festival that has been classified as one of the elements of Macao's Intangible Cultural Heritage.
There was a brief presentation by several representatives present, from the IIM, moderated by its secretary general, Rufino Ramos, Miguel de Senna Fernandes, from the Associação dos Macaenses, Amélia António, from Casa de Portugal, Paula Carion from the Associação dos Jovens Macaenses, and Wallace Kwah, from the Macau Heritage Ambassadors Association, who collaborated on the project, as well as an online intervention by researcher Mariana Pereira, who presented and launched an electronic page dedicated to this event (https://macaense24junho.wixsite.com/evento). IIM have also launched a video about the historic event, memories of previous celebrations and perspectives for the future on this important date, now available on its YouTube and Facebook channels (iim macau).
The event was supported by the Macau Foundation.
