Why there are groups out there trying to force their ways on others, I’ll never understand. Just as Amerindians couldn’t care less who Sir Issac Newton is, they equally don’t care about changing their spiritual beliefs.
ABC did a short on a group of Missionaries who are attempting to coerce others to not think for themselves. Here’s the link.
“German immigration to Brazil started in 1824 — just after Brazil won independence from Portugal — as a result of Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro I’s (1798-1834) need to populate uninhabited regions of the huge country. Such regions were being disputed with neighbouring countries such as Argentina and Paraguay. Uruguay was just becoming independent. Those countries were by then former Spanish colonies, as all of South America was becoming independent, and all of them were interested in receiving European knowledge, expertise and labor.
Some Brazilian states received higher inflows of Germans than others. Such was the case in Rio Grande do Sul, where the first “wave” of immigrants was settled in the 1820s. In 1827, a group of Germans migrated to Brazil from the region of Trier. This was the first official German migration to Brazil. Part of this group (mainly Catholic married men) came to the farm called “Fazenda Guarei,” which is today a small town in the state of São Paulo called Guarei. These Germans are considered the founders of Guarei.
A second “wave” went to Santa Catarina in the 1850s, but also to Rio de Janeiro, in smaller number, mainly to a city called Petropolis, where the Emperor Dom Pedro II’s summer house (nowadays the Imperial Museum) was located. Other German immigration waves occurred in the 1890s, as well as after the First and Second World War. The latter emigres were not necessarily only refugees, but also people who were tired of the war. They had different destinations: to the states of Sao Paulo, to Paraná, and to the other Brazilian states.
In the mid-to-late-19th century, many German-Russians migrated to the state of Paraná, more specifically, to near Ponta Grossa city, in Campos Gerais region (a savannah). After a failure in wheat cultivation, many re-emigrated to Argentina or the USA.
On August 12, 1950, five hundred Donauschwaben families were invited to immigrate to the region of Entre Rios (Portuguese for between the rivers) in the highlands (1200 meters altitude) of the state of Paraná. The first settlers arrived at the port of Santos, Brazil in June of 1951, settling in Entre Rios with the intent of growing wheat. The area was not prepared for cultivation, there were no buildings at all, nor were settlers exactly welcomed. Rattlesnakes roamed the country. Every couple was assigned 15 hectares of land, with an additional 8 for each son or 4 for each daughter, and a house of either 72 or 42 square meters depending on family size. House and land were assigned on a loan basis; repayment to occur in about ten years time.
The first church was erected in 1957-8. The chief town is Vitoria, others in order of their founding are Jordaozinho, Cochoeire, Socorro and Samambaia. The towns were named for the previous owners of the land, which the settlers were helped to purchase by the Swiss charitable organization Europahilfe.
During the 1960′s, many of the settlers returned to Germany or Austria. Forty-two families left in 1963 alone. As of 1992, only about 5% of the original houses still remained, the rest having been replaced by more permanent structures. About 2,000 of the settlers and their descendants still make their homes here, continuing to speak the donauschwäbische dialect.
Paraná and Sao Paulo have also seen a large number of German immigrants. Through the years, the descendants of these immigrants have spread out to other Brazilian regions, yet the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná are known for their concentrations of German descendants, while in other states there are rather “pockets” of them in cities such as Sao Paulo (capital of Sao Paulo state) and Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro state).” – Source
(First video in PT)
(Apparently 2:45-2:56 in the video, depicts an Italian dance)
(Second video in English)
This Year: October 5th-24th, 2010
(Círio de Nazaré from the old days – Skyscraper City)
- excerpt taken from Brazil
More Info
Círio website (in PT)
Lampião (“Oil Lamp” in Portuguese) was the nickname of “Captain” Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, the most famous leader of a Cangaço band (marauders and outlaws who terrorized the Brazilian Northeast in the 1920s and 1930s).
Biography
Virgulino was born in June 7, 1897 in the village of Serra Talhada, in the sertão (semi-arid backlands) of the state of Pernambuco, as the third child of José Ferreira da Silva and Maria Lopes, a humble family of peasants. Until 21 years old, he was a hard-working leathercraft artisan (he was also literate and used reading glasses — both quite unusual features for the rough and poor region where he lived). He lived with his family in a deadly feud with other local families until his father was killed in a confrontation with the police in 1919. Virgulino sought vengeance and proved to be extremely violent in doing so. He became an outlaw and was incessantly pursued by the police (whom he called macacos or monkeys). In the next 19 years, with his small band of cangaceiros (men of cangaço) which was never larger than about 50 heavily armed men on horses wearing leather outfits including hats, jackets, and trousers to protect them from the thorns of the caatinga (dry shrubs and brushwood typical of the dry hinterland of Brazil’s Northeast), sandals, and ammunition belts. Their weapons were mostly stolen from the police and paramilitary units and consisted of Mauser military riflesand a variety of smaller firearms including Winchester rifles, revolvers and the prized Mauser semi-automatic pistol. Lampião used to attack small cities and farms in seven states, kill people and cattle, take hostages for ransom, torture, fire-brand, maim, rape, and ransack. He was joined in 1930 by his girlfriend, Maria Déa, nicknamed Maria Bonita, who, like other women in the band, dressed like cangaceiros and participated in many of their actions. They had a daughter in 1932.
Death
Finally, on July 28, 1938, Lampião and his band were betrayed by one of his supporters and were ambushed in one of his hideouts, the Angico farm, in the state of Sergipe, by a police troop armed with machine guns. In a quick battle, Lampião, Maria Bonita and 9 of his troops were killed. Their heads were cut and sent off to Salvador, the capitol of Bahia, for examination by specialists at the State Forensic Institute, and later, for public exhibition, and only after 1971 the families of Lampião and Maria Bonita were able to reclaim the preserved heads to finally bury them.
Folk Hero
Thus started the legend of Lampião and Maria Bonita, who became subjects of innumerable folk stories, books, popular pamphlets (cordel literature), songs, movies, and a number of TV soap operas, with all the elements of drama, passion, and violence typical of “Far West” stories. By many, he was considered a folk hero, a kind of Robin Hood and the head of apeasant revolt against the all-dominant, feudal farmers of the region (the so-called coronels). The fact remains that he was the most notorious of the many rural bandits (in his own admission) that infested the poor hinterland of Northeast Brazil.
For a photo album of cangaceiros set to music, see the video below, (which was) followed by a Joan Baez song called ‘Muié Rendera’ which is typical of the music of the time. Muié is short for mulher, or woman, although not a word for educated people. Render means to render, yeild, command or pay.
Joan Baez – Muié Rendera (removed by Youtube)
Olê muié rendera
Olê muié rendá
Tu me ensina a fazê renda (You teach me to make a living)
Que eu te ensino a namorá (And I’ll teach you to date)
Lampião desceu a serra (Lampião came down from the mountain)
Num baile da cangaceira (For a cangaceira dance)
Olê muié rendera
Olê muié rendá
The Saci is arguably the most popular character in Brazilian folklore. He is a one-legged black or mulatto youngster with holes in the palms of his hands, who smokes a pipe and wears a magical red cap that enables him to disappear and reappear wherever he wishes (usually in the middle of a dust devil). Considered an annoying prankster in most parts of Brazil, and a potentially dangerous and malicious creature in others, he will nevertheless grant wishes to anyone who manages to trap him or steal his magic cap.
There are several variants of the myth, including:
Saci Pererê is also the name of a Brazilian cocktail consisting of 1/4 cup of cachaça and 3 tablespoons of honey, which is said to be good for the common cold.
The character remains quite popular in present-day urban culture, mainly due to the immensely popular children’s book O Saci by Monteiro Lobato (1932).
Blame It On Rio Saci
An incorrigible prankster, the Saci will not cause major harm, but there is no little harm that he won’t do. He will hide children’s toys, set farm animals loose, tease dogs, and curse chicken eggs preventing them from hatching. In the kitchen, the Saci would spill all salt, sour the milk, burn the bean stew, and drop flies into the soup. If a popcorn kernel fails to pop, it is because the Saci cursed it. Given half a chance, he will dull the seamstress‘s needles, hide her thimbles, and tangle her sewing threads. If he sees a nail lying on the ground, he will turn it with the point up. In short, anything that goes wrong — in the house, or outside it — may be confidently blamed on the Saci.
Origins
While some claim that the Saci myth originated in Europe in the 13th century, it probably derives from the Yaçi-Yaterê of Tupi-Guarani mythology, a magic one-legged child with fire-red hair who would spell-bind people and break the forest’s silence with his loud shouts and whistles. He was originally a creature of the night, and indeed the Yaçi (Template:Ipa) means “Moon” in Old Tupi.
This indigenous character was appropriated and transformed in the 18th century by the African slaves who had been brought in large numbers to Brazil. Farm slaves would tell Saci stories to amuse and frighten the children, black and white. In this process the creature became black, his red hair metamorphosed into a red cap, and — like the African elders who usually told the tales — he came to be always smoking his clay-and-reed pipe. His name mutated into various forms, such as Saci Taperê and Sá Pereira (a common Portuguese name), and eventually Saci Pererê.
His red cap may have been inspired on the Phrygian cap which was at one time worn by Portuguese peasants. The Saci-Pererê concept shows some syncretism with Christian elements: he bolts away when faced with crosses, leaving behind a sulphurous smell — classical attributes of the Devil in Christian folklore.
The concepts of imprisoning a supernatural being in a bottle by a magically marked cork, and of forcing him to grant wishes in return of his liberty, have obvious parallels in the story of Aladdin from the Arabian Nights. This may be more than just a coincidence, since many slaves were Muslims and thus presumably familiar with the Arabian tales. Moreover, the occupation of parts of the Portuguese territory (namely in the south) by the Muslim Moors, between the years 711 and 1249, provides another possible path for Arabian influence on the Saci legend.
The Brazilian View
Macumba is a word of African (Bantu) origins. Various explanations of its meaning include “a musical instrument”, the name of a Central African deity, and simply “magic”. It was the name used for all Bantu religious practices mainly in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th Century and even today it will be confused with Candomblé (even though in Macumba there are no vestiges of Christianity nor of Orixás, among other things).
The word “macumba” is frequently used in Brazil to refer to any ritual or religion of African origin (as slang), and although its use by non-practitioners remains largely pejorative in intent (referring to all sorts of religious (or otherwise) superstitions and luck-related rituals and beliefs), and is considered offensive, its use among actual practitioners is not viewed negatively. In Brazil one can find expressions such as “chuta que é macumba” (“kick it out, for it is witchcraft!”) to show disagreement with bad luck.
It is quite normal outside of the bigger cities to hear about who in town is doing macumba. I was told that a neighbor of mine was a part-time macumbeiro (a practitioner) and a computer repairman the rest of the time. Also, much like in voodoo, if someone gets a hold of a lock of your hair, it is said jokingly that they will do macumba on you.
African Origins
Macumba is also practiced in equatorial Africa, in particular in both the Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo, where there is some indication this “religion” originated. As the Bantu are found in the Congos, it is reasonable to assume it was transplanted by slaves from Congo to Brazil.
As observed in the Republic of Congo in Brazzaville, Macumba is practiced by females exclusively, who were noted as having set-up tables and selling various herbs to passersby. There is also a link to the usage of various jungle intoxicants by practicers of Macumba.
Example
In the Amazonian city of Santarem, Para State, there is a shop which sells materials related to Macumba in the central part of the city. One symbol of Macumba in Amazonas is that of a Black man wearing a white Fedora hat. There appears to be a relationship with the concept of the Boto (the fresh-water porpoise found in the Amazonas River and its tributaries) having shape-shifting abilities and then while in the form of a human male having sexual relations with young women. This belief was noted in several Indian villages along the Amazonas (Solimoes) River, Rio Negro and Japura River.
As an example of how Macumba functions, if a person desires to receive money, he/she visits a person or a shop specializing in Macumba, such as the one in Santarem. After paying a sum to the specialist, the person is then given a certain herb gathered in the jungle and is told to put the herb in bathwater and told to bath in it daily for seven days. The person utilizing the herb is then supposed to receive money thereafter. In Brazil it appears that males often are involved in the dispensing of Macumba knowledge/spells/materials
Enfim (Ultimately)
It is difficult to pin-point exactly what Macumba is, as it includes a wide variety of beliefs and is not static or defined to any extent. The only absolute statement which can be made in reference to Macumba is that in both Congo and Brazil Macumba uses plants and herbs gathered from the jungle and the knowledge of a person experienced in its usage to bring about an event or a desired effect for the person seeking to use Macumba.
Candomblé is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion, practiced chiefly in Brazil. The religion originated in the city of Salvador, the capital of Bahia. Although Candomblé is practiced primarily within Brazil, it is also practiced in neighboring countries and is becoming more popular worldwide. The rituals involve the possession of participants by Orishas, animal sacrifices, healing, dancing and drumming. Candomblé draws inspiration from the African Diaspora, but it mainly features aspects of the religion of the Yoruba Orisha religion. Orishas are religious deities that are said to represent human characteristics such as bravery, love and honor.
The Yoruba Orisha religion is said to be animistic, or mysterious. The highest deity, Olodumare, the Creator, is considered to be an unknowable, distant God. It is only his children that deal in the lives of humans. The Orishas, Orixás in Portuguese, are said to “mount”, or possess the participant during the rituals. The religion came to Brazil from the region of Yorubaland in Africa. Today this is in the area of the countries of Nigeria, Benin and Togo. This was not a single group, but several, united by a common language and some common aspects of culture. The religion was brought over during the Atlantic slave trade by African priests and adherents who were dedicated to the worship of the Yoruba Orishas. Those people were brought as slaves between 1549 and 1850.
The slaves united themselves under the Nago name when they arrived. After the arrival of the Yoruba Orishas in Brazil, there was some association with the Catholic Saints and many of the Orixás are now referenced with their Catholic Saints. This religion, like many African religions, is an oral tradition and therefore has not been put into text throughout the years. Only recently have scholars and people of this religion began to write down their practices. The name Batuque is also used, especially before the 19th century when Candomblé became more common. Both words are believed to derive from a Bantu-family language, mainly that of Kongo Kingdom.
Although originally confined to the slave population, banned by the Catholic church, and even criminalized by some governments, Candomblé thrived for over four centuries, and expanded considerably after the end of slavery in the late 1800s. The idea that the Candomblé church is a unit is incorrect, however. The original Candomble temple, terreiro, was established in early 19th century Bahia. It developed from three freed African women, Iya Deta, Iya Kala, and Iya Nasso, and many call it a true matrilineal society. They first established the Candomble headquarters in Bahia called Engenho Velho. However, this was not meant to last, and after dispute after dispute candombles split from one another; therefore, this established hundreds of different candombles. These different candombles mixed ideas and practices with local Afro-Brazilians and created distinct attributes for certain candombles. The different candombles, today, are known as nacoes, or nations, including Candomble de Ketu, Candomble de Angola, Candomble de Jeje, Candomble de Congo, Candomble de Ijexa, and Candomble de Caboclo. It is now a major, established religion, with followers from all social classes and tens of thousands of temples. In recent surveys, about 2 million Brazilians (1.5% of the total population) have declared Candomblé as their religion. However, in Brazilian culture, religions are not seen as mutually exclusive, and thus many people of other faiths participate in Candomblé rituals regularly or occasionally. Candomblé deities, rituals, and holidays are now an integral part of Brazilian folklore.
Candomblé may be called Macumba in some regions, notably Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, although Macumba has a distinct set of practices more akin to European witchcraft. Candomblé can also be distinguished from Umbanda, a religion founded in the early 20th century by combining African elements with Kardecism; and from similar African-derived religions such as Quimbanda, Haitian Voodoo, CubanSantería, and Obeah, which developed independently of Candomblé and are virtually unknown in Brazil.
Separate Video in Portuguese
