Monthly Archives: January 2011

The Great Grape Festival of Caxias do Sul

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The Festa da Uva (or, Grape Festival) is a Brazilian celebration of Italian heritage which takes place every two years in the town of Caxias do Sul, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. For close to 80 years, the residents have put on the celebration which usually falls around mid-February, lasting two weeks. As part of the festivities, local producers of food and wine present their best products to the public in an effort to both spread knowledge of their Italian roots and, of course, make a few sales.

The festival started not as a festival, but as an agroindustrial fair back in 1881, which brought together local farmers and producers so they could share ideas and showcase new methods to improve the harvesting of their crops. The fair was created as a means to centralize, even if just for a few days, those that normally worked scattered about in different locations within the region. It wasn’t until June 1st, 1910, that the first train began to run through Caxias do Sul, connecting the city (it was elevated to city status on the very same day) to nearby Montenegro and the state capital, Porto Alegre. The prosperous little city only became more prosperous with the new train since from Porto Alegre, a ship could take salesmen, along with wines, cheeses and other products, to São Paulo.

The new train didn’t just take people to far away places, it allowed others to come to the region such as traders and relatives who instead of just visiting, decided to move there and look for work. With the growth of the local industries and of the city, a Caxias do Sul resident named Joaquim Pedro Lisboa suggested in 1931 that a festival be created to celebrate the grape harvest. The press from the capital called it the “Little Grape Exposition” and though it only lasted one day, it was highly popular and even included airplanes doing fancy moves in the sky. The next year, they decided to do another Festa da Uva and in 1933, they added a new twist, the election of a Grape Festival Queen. In addition, the 3rd offering of the festival included the participation of three neighboring towns, Flores da Cunha, Bento Gonçalves and Garibaldi. The festival didn’t just reach other towns, its message of solidarity spread much further.

Brazil’s own president, Getúlio Vargas, said such bastions of cultural pride were nothing more than “social cysts” because to him they represented a fragmented society. Nonetheless, in Fascist Italy, there was an increasing interest in reconstructing the history of the emigrants. By doing so, such a history could be interpreted as a shining example of how the “Latin race” could contribute to the civilization of the New World, while also urging the Italians abroad to take pride in their ethnic origin. And take pride, they did.

Cleodes Ribeiro, a professor and researcher of Brazilian-Italian culture, describes the festival in the following way…

“If the celebration of the Grape Festival ritual served to proclaim the identity of the celebrants, display the result of their work over more than half a century and claim the status of being Brazilians, their defining characteristics were explained by the vocabulary employed in the symbolic ritual. The speeches, the exhibition and the distribution of grapes, the triumphal procession, the shopkeeper in their costumes, songs, banquets, congress and flags lining the streets, all reflected the efforts of the festival hosts in the process of self-representation.”

It is also important to note that these immigrant clusters in Brazil were not just refined to Italian descendants, nor was Caxias do Sul the only place Italians settled into upon moving to Brazil. These were people who created and sustained models of success that essentially came to replace the master-slave dynamic (of Portuguese descendants and their African slaves) that had encompassed Brazil for so long. To me, these often historical concentrations of once-separate nationalities that all landed in one country and eventually became one people, so to speak, are what makes Brazil so infinitely interesting. Even more so, each concentration retains either strong markers or, to a lesser extent, noticable vestiges of a more cohesive community-based identity. How many other nations can truly say the same of their people?

Originally written for Street Smart Brazil.

Big record companies getting a clue

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I don’t listen to the radio but I was just reading part of an article on the Guardian about how record companies no longer think its viable to “set up” a record, that is, to play it on the radio for several weeks before releasing it to the public in disc or digital form for purchase.

Even though I don’t like funk nor tecnobrega that much, I’m pretty sure they (at least the latter) have been instantly releasing their songs for years. Go to a concert and like the music? Buy the just-recorded disc from the concert itself. Like a particular song that just came out? Go to the corner and buy it from the street vendor (who probably has a deal with the musicians). One more example of how traditional media is going down the tubes.

IPEA study says 40% of Brazilians don’t use banks

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“A study published this Tuesday, the 11th, by the IPEA (Institute for Applied Economic Research) shows that 39.5% of Brazilians don’t have a bank account. The ‘Banks: Exclusion and Services’ study reveals that 52.6% of those interviewed in the Northeast and 50% in the North don’t use banks while in the Midwest, 31.2% don’t have accounts. In contrast, the South and Southeast presented percentages of 65.9% and 70% of those interviewed who saved their money in financial institutions.

According to the IPEA, it’s necessary to create products and services for those 39.5% that don’t have a bank account, so that they can be incorporated into the banking system and socialize access to public services operated by concession.” – Baguete

My Take

This study makes me laugh. Why is it necessary to include a third-party (banks) in an A /B transaction? This was the biggest con of them all when ‘we decided’ (it was decided for us) to use a heavily-controlled monetary system for transactions between a buyer and a seller. Anyone who doesn’t fall in line must be a ‘terrorist’ or something. Can’t trust people that…what’s that called?…oh, yeah, think!

Perhaps the IPEA will learn something from the 5-part video series called ‘Corrupt Banking System’

Sururu – Disorder

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So I learned a new word while watching As Cariocas, for research purposes, of course. The sentence was something like “…de paz para um sururu” and as I enjoy words of Tupi origin, I looked it up and to my surprise, it means “mussels”. Not trusting the regular dictionary, I checked it on Dicionário Informal and found it means ‘disorder’, as in “foi o maior sururu!” (it was total chaos!)…so, yeah…never throw a bucket of mussels on someone’s head.

Bullet Train May Carry Mail, Ease Traffic

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“The Ministry of Communications stated today that the government is studying the possibility that the Mail and Telegraph Company (ECT) may become a fixed client of the bullet-train that will connect the cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Campinas.

According to the ministry, the minister Paulo Bernardo already solicited the new president of Correios, Wagner Pinheiro, to start talks with the National Agency of Land Transport (ANTT) to discuss the project. The minister estimates that close to 80% of Correios’ service traffic is concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Rio and São Paulo. The expectation is that, with Correios having a dedicated wagon for correspondences and parcels, the State can take a large quantity of trucks off the Via Dutra.

The minister believes that the anticipated contract with Correios could guarantee investors that the bullet-train could start right off with a fixed client. The transport of small parcels had already been announced by ANTT as an alternative for entrepreneurs to obtain extra revenues, which do not include direct compensation by means of passenger transport tariffs and economic exploitation of the stations.

The bullet-train auction, also known as the High Velocity Train (TAV), will occur in April. The estimated investment needed is R$33.1 billion, with a maximum timeframe of five years for construction and 40 years for service exploitation.” – Valor Online

Brazil’s Raw Materials and the Chinese Bikini problem

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“Do you want to see Jesus?” the helicopter pilot asked us. It would be an unusual offer from anyone, but from a pilot it would normally be a cause for serious concern.”

An excellent opening (from a writer’s perspective) for a BBC article on Brazil, Batista and the Chinese connection. The media can’t get enough of Batista, it seems. For the audio on this story, see the latest podcast and start at minute 18 and 20 seconds.

How to Parallel Park Your Mule in Ceará

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To the unsuspecting visitor, it may seem that I’m posting this because I want to show that Brazil (or at least the Northeast) is backwards. Au contraire, mon ami. I love this part of Brazil and I wish the US was more like it but unfortunately this can only be found in ‘Amish country’. If going back to being simpler became a popular movement, I would certainly go live on a farm. Movement or not, I may end up doing it in a few decades.