A journey through Ukrainian colonies in southern Brazil
by Jeff Picknicki Morski
PRUDENTÓPOLIS, Brazil - During my recent stay in Brazil I have been bitten by jungle spiders, eaten my weight in churrasco barbecue daily, spoken a unique mixture of Ukrainian and Brazilian Portuguese and continued to bond with the South American branch of my family tree. Traveling approximately 2,000 kilometers by car, bus and jeep through the southern Brazilian interior, I visited more Ukrainian colonies, churches, cemeteries and people than have most Brazilians, as I was repeatedly told. I have shared chimarrão with descendants of some of the first settlers. I have again run from a rattlesnake during a pilgrimage to the family homestead. During a visit to one colony I even played - and won - the popular jogo do bicho.
Coinciding with the Ukrainian emigration to Canada, the arrival of the first Ukrainian settlers in Brazil dates to the year 1891. During this first wave, approximately 45,000 immigrants arrived in Brazil and settled in the country's southern frontier regions, specifically in the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
Subsequent waves during the inter-war and post-1945 years brought a further 15,000 immigrants. Presently the Ukrainian community in Brazil numbers about 550,000 with the majority of the concentration continuing to be fixed in the south.
The following journal excerpts further describe some of the highlights of my travels through Ukrainian Brazil.
Prudentópolis was one of the earliest and largest Ukrainian settlements in Brazil. Consisting of nothing more than a few huts and dirt trails when it was founded in 1895, it has grown into a city of 15,000 people, 75 percent of whom are of Ukrainian origin (the population of the entire municipality of Prudentópolis is approximately 53,000).
Standing at the entrance to the city is the Portal do Imigrante. Designed by engineer Humberto Sanches, this impressive gateway was built last year in commemoration of the centennial of Ukrainian settlement in Prudentópolis. It consists of two columns, one representing a stylized pinhão [the nut or acorn of the pinheori] and the other an example of Byzantine sacral architecture, joined by a slate roof. The portal was inaugurated on November 11, 1995, during the city's centennial celebrations.
Passing around the chimarrâo (it is a Brazilian custom to share a hollowed-out gourd of herva mate tea with guests), the women told me that it was his letter to Metropolitan Sylvester Sembratovych in Lviv, describing the difficulties of life for the settlers without their own clergymen, which led to the arrival in Prydentópolis of the Rev. Sylvester Kizyma. Father Kizyma, the first Basilian priest to come to Brazil to perform missionary work, served both the religious and spiritual needs of the people in Prudentópolis and in Xavier da Silva, Costa Carvalho and Moema in the neighboring state of Santa Catarina.
Presently the museum houses the Exposição Centenário da Imigração Ucraniana de Prudentópolis, an exhibit commemorating the centennial of Ukrainian immigration in Prudentópolis. Government and personal documents, historical artifacts and a large collection of photographs aptly illustrate and pay homage to the Ukrainian pioneer experience in Brazil.
One of the museum's favorite acquisitions is a loom, completely restored and fully functional, which was donated by the Zdebski family. The son of its original owners comes in regularly to demonstrate for spectators the weaving process. The museum's director, Mêroslava Krevei, tells that this is only the first step in the establishment of a permanent exhibit and that there is still much work and collecting of artifacts to be done.
On the way back to the city my cousin Daniel tells the story of Rafael Morski, whose grave we saw near the entrance to the cemetery. The youngest of the children, he was 18 years old and engaged to be married when he decided to call off the wedding and move to Curitiba to attend school. His bride-to-be, angered by the rejection, sought out a settlement of Bugres [Brazilian Indians] in the neighboring forest and obtained from one of their medicine men a candy which she gave him to eat. Almost instantly, they said, he became ill, lost his ability to speak, and understand and then died. He was buried next to his parents in the cemetery in Cônsul Pool.
In Laranjeiras do Sul I spoke with 88-year-old Ana Maria Kichil, the last surviving daughter of Ukrainian immigrant parents, who recounted for me in detail the celebration of a Ukrainian wedding in Brazil:
"When I was married in 1930 we still observed all of the traditions. My Uncle Luca was the starosta and I remember how he and my husband-to-be came to the house to ask for my parents' permission and blessing. After the arrangements had been made, my bridesmaids and I spent two days walking from house to house through the colony to invite all of the guests... The night before the wedding we plaited the wreaths at my parents' house and sang the sad songs... On Saturday the groom and his best man arrived carrying the korovai and a pinorchyk [pinherio sapling] decorated with pleated ribbons and bows. It was presented to us by my parents who extended blessings of happiness and long life..."
"My father came to Prudentópolis in 1905. He used to say that the people lived in temporary barracks before settling on their land. Thirty to 40 people died every day. Many Ukrainians did not want to settle in the interior and those who resisted were placed in carts and taken to the colonies against their will. One time, after crossing the Rio São João with the carts full of immigrants, they even set fire to the bridge so that the settlers could not return..."
Later, looking through materials in the Basilian Fathers' Archives, I find a written account of the same story.
Madalena Lozovei, a social worker, teacher, catechist and director of the Associação dos Professores de Língua Ucraniana no Brasil (Association of Ukrainian Language Teachers in Brazil), is delivering some teaching materials to the school and has asked me to come along. The jeep's two front tires go flat just as we pass the only service station I've seen in the last two hours. Timing is everything.
Ligação at the western edge of the municipality of Prudentópolis, is one of the more recently settled Ukrainian colonies. It was founded in the 1930s by several families who relocated here from other less productive areas such as neighboring Barra d'Areia and Hervalho. The work here is hard, because of the mountainous terrain, but the land is well suited to the cultivation of corn, sugar cane and coffee, and so the residents earn a better than average living. This area, called the "Brazilian Carpathians" by the residents, also has some of southern Brazil's most spectacular scenery.
Before returning to Prudentópolis, interviews with some of the colony's oldest residents produce some historical background information and even a few old photographs. I was also told by one of the residents that as the neighboring municipality is set to be named, Deputy João Techy of the Legislative Assembly of the state of Paraná is soliciting suggestions for something Ukrainian. One of the best proposals so far is Serra da Kalyna.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 21, 1996, No. 29, Vol. LXIV
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