The tradition will be fulfilled again this Thursday, December 18th, with Hospitals Christmas, an initiative created by Diário de Notícias in 1944, which was later joined by RTP and Philips. Throughout the day, music and solidarity mark another edition of this Christmas event that the public station has been bringing to the Portuguese for 67 years.
An 81-year-old initiative that brings joy to those who need it most, with the participation of dozens of artists, such as Rebeca, Bandalusa, José Malhoa, Calema, Augusto Canário, Herman José, Quim Barreiros, Ágata, Mónica Sintra, Rui Bandeira, Anjos, Toy, among many others.
The Pequenos Cantores da Maia and the Santo Amaro de Oeiras Children’s Choir also take the stage at Christmas dos Hospitals this year, in a broadcast conducted by Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and José Carlos Malato, from the Alcoitão Rehabilitation Medicine Center, and by Sónia Araújo and Jorge Gabriel, from the Hospital de São João, in Porto.
Already broadcast that also passes through the Azores and Madeira and continues until 8:00 p.m., Solidarity is present with the delivery of baskets with food products, household appliances and toys to families and institutions identified by União das Misericórdias and the Instituto de Apoio à Criança.
The first Hospital Christmas took place on December 23, 1944, in the middle of the Second World War, in an initiative by Diário de Notícias to bring joy and hope to those who were hospitalized. Vasco Santana and Mirita Casimiro presented the first edition at the now extinct Hospital de Arroios, in Praça do Chile, in Lisbon, with the participation of several figures from the entertainment area such as Palmira Bastos and João Villaret.
In 1958, RTP joined the initiative, and, since then, Christmas dos Hospitals has arrived in the Portuguese homes in a broadcast full of moments of music, joy, hope and solidarity.