1 November is All Saints Day and traditionally has always been a national public holiday.
This week was the first time the holiday has been observed since four national holidays were scrapped by the previous centre-right coalition government as part of austerity measures in 2013.
The decision to do away with the four holidays - two religious festivals and two other public holidays – and suspend them for five years from 2013, was made in 2012.
The four days affected were ‘All Saints’ Day (1 November); Corpus Christi (60 days after Easter), 5 October, which commemorates the formation of the Portuguese Republic in 1910; and 1 December, which marks Portuguese independence from Spanish rule in 1640.
The decision over which Catholic festivals to cut was negotiated with the Vatican.
However, All Saints Day, a religious festival celebrated in honour of all the saints, known and unknown, was restored last year by the leftist socialist minority government, a year ahead of schedule.
All Saints Day is followed by All Souls Days, on 2 November, a day to pay respects to the departed and more commonly called the Day of the Dead, but not a bank holiday.