Study Abroad, Part 2

Okay, another course in my University of Life:

Brazilian Culture 101: (Specifically focusing on the State of Rio Grande do Sul)

The richest cultural experiences we can have (in general) often focus around holidays or special events. Something that I wasn't expecting when we moved to Brazil was how many holidays and special events we would have.  Maybe it's because we tend to celebrate both American and Brazilian holidays in our family whenever we can, but it's easy for me to lose track of when the next special occasion will be, as there are so many! Not that we celebrate with all-out full-blown parties for every occasion, by any means, but generally Holiday = Day off from work! Which, from the mom perspective, means “Daddy is home to spend more time with us!!! Yay!!” So, just for fun, I decided to list some of the days that we have celebrated (or at least honored by not working!) this year as part of Brazilian tradition.

March 8 (or about 40 days before Easter) = Carnaval! Probably the Brazilian celebration most commonly recognized world-wide, for better and for worse. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on this one. Here's the thing about Carnaval: There are certain places that you probably don't want to be during this celebration, and certain channels on TV that you may decide to flip through more quickly than others, to avoid seeing too much human flesh. There is a huge parade with scantily clad women dancing Samba, which is probably the most famous event associated with this holiday. But really, everyone has a different way of celebrating, and the Brazilians friends and family with whom we associate remain fully clothed and did not even dance one Samba song (that I know of).  For us, this year it meant time off from work for a family beach trip! Which was quite nice and relaxing.

April 21 = Tiradentes. This day commemorates a national hero of Brazil who lived in the 1700's. I don't know his full story, but apparently he is important enough to get a day off from work. I guess it is comparable to President's Day.

March/April/May ? = Paixao de Cristo & Pascoa (Easter Weekend). The biggest difference I noticed in how it is celebrated here is the size and type of Easter eggs children receive here! It is also a tradition for many families to leave out carrots and water the night before for the Easter Bunny, and then in the morning he will have left a 'nest' of eggs for the children to find. We really enjoyed keeping some of our previous traditions from the US, as well as learning some new ones here! And we ended up with about a 2-month supply of chocolate eggs afterwards. :)

May 1 = Dia do Trabalho, or “Day of Work”/Labor Day. Maybe for some people Labor Day is very similar to this holiday, but it was new for me. This was a day to celebrate those who work, basically. For example, my father-in-law's business held a barbecue this weekend for all of their employees. Not necessarily the family members of the employees, but the workers themselves. Again, for us, another day of daddy not having to work. :)

May 26 = Nossa Sra de Caravaggio, a Catholic holiday to honor the patron saint of our area. (Isn't it great when everyone gets time off for religious holidays of others?! ;))

June 12 = Dia dos Namorados, or “Boyfriend/Girlfriend's Day”. This is what we have instead of Valentine's Day, and you know how so many single people dislike Valentine's Day? I think they would dislike Dia dos Namorados even more. There are no cheesy valentine cards to pass around to the other kids at school and no 'friendship' gifts or whatever, to my knowledge. It's all about the romantic relationships. The children in my English class seemed very pleased that they got to hand out the little cheesy valentine cards we made to their friends, as they had never done this before.  Next year, I think I'll show them how to decorate Valentine mailboxes!

June 12-29, with high-points on 23 & 24 = Festas Juninas/de Sao Joao. The fun thing about the month of June is there are Festas Junina most of the month, with Hill-Billy themes! (Here, they are called Caipiras.) Decorations for parties are old newspapers cut up and strung up like banners, flannels, straw, etc. People who really get into the celebrations dress up in their overalls & flannels, gingham dresses, and black out a couple teeth and paint freckles on their faces, hair braided and wearing straw hats. We didn't get that into it this year... maybe next. There is usually a performance at the party, with people dressed as a bride and groom, and others in their caipira costumes, and they dance a quadrilha (square dance). Different types of party food are served as well, including roasted peanuts and candies, cakes and cookies made with peanuts; pinhao (a type of pine nut that I've only ever seen here); popcorn, and other corn-based foods. The main drink served is called Quentao, which is wine that is heated to boiling, with added spices like cinnamon and cloves for flavor. Sort of a grape cider. Sometimes grape juice is used instead, which we appreciate. I think this is one of my favorite types of celebrations here, even without the costumes, maybe because I am a caipira! :)

June 23 (or whenever it falls) = Corpus Christi. I don't know much about the meaning behind this holiday, other than it is religious and celebrated in the Catholic church, as well as some others from what I read. We are just grateful for another day off work. :)

August 14 (or second Sunday in August) = Dia dos Pais (Father's Day), and therefore also equates with big family gathering for Churrasco (barbecue) lunch. What else?!

September 7 = Independencia, Brazil's “Independence Day.”

September 20 = Revolucao Farroupilha (Farroupilhan Revolution, which possibly our city was named after.) This is actually a state holiday for our state, Rio Grande do Sul (RS). To give you a point of reference, RS is very comparable to Texas. The beef industry here is HUGE, hence all of the really well-cooked churrasco! Also, there was a time in the history of the state when the residents sought to be independent from the rest of Brazil, their own country. I didn't get to experience as much of this holiday as I would have liked this year, as there was an entire week of activities happening downtown. But what I did see were many children dressed in traditional Gaucho (cowboy, you could say) clothing all over town. Many classes took field trips downtown to participate in the holiday activities. There were “cowboys” giving them lessons on how to put a saddle on a horse and how to rope a calf. And there were dance performances by the children who attended various local schools. (Here is a link to a youtube video of one dance.)  The costumes were gorgeous – so much so that I was tempted to rent one to wear myself, just for the week! And I learned that there is an entirely different genre of music, which I call Gaucho Music. It is to RS as Bluegrass is to Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, etc. Although I grew up in the area where Bluegrass music was born, I have never really been a big fan. I enjoy hearing some every now and then, especially a good banjo player. But not every day. Well, my feelings toward bluegrass are very similar to Tiago's feelings toward Gaucho music, as I learned that week. Though it really was fun to see the costumes and watch the dancers, listening to 1 or 2 of the songs was plenty for us!

October 12 = Nossa Sra Aparecida/Dia das Criancas (Children's Day, also the holiday for the patron saint of Brazil.)

November 2 = Finados, or “Memorial Day”. A day to remember/honor loved ones who have passed away.

November 15 = Proclamacao da Republica (Proclamation of the Republic), when Brazil declared they would be the República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil, or Republic of the United States of Brazil, where they previously... err... were... not a republic. Anyway, another Churrasco day!

We have had a lot of fun this year developing new family traditions that go along with the culture in our area. I think now that I know what to expect, next year's celebrations will be even better! For now, I am looking forward to a merry Christmas with plenty of peace, joy, love, and SUNSHINE!!