Finnish Brazilian
Encyclopedia
Finnish Brazilian is a Brazilian person of full, partial, or predominantly Finnish ancestry, or a Finnish-born person residing in Brazil.
About 170 km (105 mi) from Rio de Janeiro
, the area where Penedo
is located belongs to the Itatiaia National Park
. It is a beautiful mountainous area, covered with the Atlantic Forest, with pleasant temperature and surroundings. The small town was colonized by immigrants from Finland
and the architecture
, gastronomy
and local customs such as sauna
s, are still present in Penedo.
Penedo is the first Finnish colony in Brazil
.
s and technicians who worked in constructing railways in Brazil
. In 1908, a small Finnish colony
was founded, comprising about 20 families. Then in 1909–1910, a group of Finns from northern Sweden and northern Finland
emigrated to the southern part of Brazil
(Rio Grande do Sul
). In the inter-war years, somewhere around one thousand Finns immigrated to Latin America
, mainly to Brazil
and Argentina
. Especially from the year 1924, Colonia Finlandesa in Argentina received new emigrants from eastern Finland. In Brazil
, a utopian social experiment, Penedo, was started in 1929.
After World War II
, immigration from Finland
to Latin America
continued, but to a smaller degree than before. According to Finnish official statistics, about 500 immigrants left for Latin American countries. Venezuela then became a new country to Finnish emigration. In the course of time small Finnish colonies have sprung up within some of South America
's major cities, especially in São Paulo
, Rio de Janeiro
, Buenos Aires
and Caracas
. Here, however, we must distinguish between true emigrants and the occasional Finnish resident in Latin American countries for diplomatic service or business.
, and the precepts included a strict vegan diet, with no foods of animal origin. He arrived in the city of Rio with his wife Liisa. They were marveled with the lush natural beauty of the state. After taking some Portuguese
lessons (reportedly at Berlitz), he ended up going by train to nearby Barra Mansa
. From there he started exploring the region, visiting farms and properties in Rio and neighboring states.
He finally visited Fazenda Penedo, then owned by the São Bento Monastery. With 3,500 hectares, it was crisscrossed by fresh water springs and rivers, that were distributed along several altitudes. He could use the large Casa Grande, the main house in the farm, to accommodate his group. He envisioned that the area would allow them to grow both European and tropical flora. He was not aware that the former use of the farm as a coffee plantation had basically drained the most substantial nutrients from the soil
, and that saúva ant
s were to cut the plants. In 1929, he purchased the property, and a second group of settlers arrived. After working on the land, they were finally able to plant corn
, yam
s, banana
s, flower
s, and loofah. By 1935 most settlers had their own individual house
s. Women took care of the laundry, cooking and vegetable
garden
s, while men tended the earth, planted and negotiated the crop
s.
Many of the settlers did not adapt well to the new country, and returned home to Finland
. When things got ugly with World War II
some of them came back to Brazil
. The strict vegan philosophy was no longer prevalent, though, and fowl, pig and dairy farming were gradually introduced. Tourism
became an alternative. Liisa Uuskallio was the pioneer, using the spacious Casa Grande. Penedo is where Brazilians were introduced to the Finnish sauna
. Guests could enjoy the healthy lifestyle, delicious food and fresh-baked bread
s, and relax in the river
. Clube Finlandês opened doors in 1943. Massages and treatments were incorporated into the attractions for visitors. It could be considered the grandfather of today's spas. In 1970, electricity
reached the village, and 1980 the first phone
s were installed.
The Scandinavia
n style of the house
s has been preserved, and the village has kept its European charm. With a number of talented local artisan
s, handcraft and carpets (Ryijy and Raanu) are offered in local stores for very attractive prices. Decorative candles, hand-woven blankets and throws are also part of the Finnish legacy. As the descendants of the immigrants stopped growing loofah in the 70's, the traditional bathing gloves, sandals, dolls and other items are no longer available. To compensate, food specialties such as fruit preserves, chutney, home-made chocolates and ice cream are well-known for excellent quality. In addition to nature lovers and gourmets, Penedo is popular with adventure seekers. Rappelling, mountaineering and horseback riding are among the options. If you would rather take things a little more lightly, enjoy the nature trails, waterfalls, go for a few laps in the river, breathe the fresh mountain air.
About 170 km (105 mi) from Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, the area where Penedo
Penedo (Itatiaia)
Penedo is a district in the Itatiaia municipality, located in the southern region of Rio de Janeiro state, in Brazil. It is the first Finnish colony in Brazil, and some Finnish influence can still be noticed in some houses, and commercial buildings, as well as in the local culture....
is located belongs to the Itatiaia National Park
Itatiaia National Park
Itatiaia National Park , established in 1937, is the oldest national park in Brazil. It is located on the border between Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states, between 22º16’ - 22º28’ S and 44º34’ - 44º42’ W....
. It is a beautiful mountainous area, covered with the Atlantic Forest, with pleasant temperature and surroundings. The small town was colonized by immigrants from Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and the architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, gastronomy
Gastronomy
Gastronomy is the art or science of food eating. Also, it can be defined as the study of food and culture, with a particular focus on gourmet cuisine...
and local customs such as sauna
Sauna
A sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities....
s, are still present in Penedo.
Penedo is the first Finnish colony in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
History
In 1906, the first Finnish immigrants seem to have been sailors who went ashore especially in the port of Rio de Janeiro. From the close of the 19th century onwards, we also hear about Finnish engineerEngineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
s and technicians who worked in constructing railways in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. In 1908, a small Finnish colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
was founded, comprising about 20 families. Then in 1909–1910, a group of Finns from northern Sweden and northern Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
emigrated to the southern part of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...
). In the inter-war years, somewhere around one thousand Finns immigrated to Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, mainly to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. Especially from the year 1924, Colonia Finlandesa in Argentina received new emigrants from eastern Finland. In Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, a utopian social experiment, Penedo, was started in 1929.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, immigration from Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
to Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
continued, but to a smaller degree than before. According to Finnish official statistics, about 500 immigrants left for Latin American countries. Venezuela then became a new country to Finnish emigration. In the course of time small Finnish colonies have sprung up within some of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
's major cities, especially in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
. Here, however, we must distinguish between true emigrants and the occasional Finnish resident in Latin American countries for diplomatic service or business.
Penedo
Penedo is a small village with a curious history. It is located right next to Parque Nacional do Itatiaia. Penedo was settled by Finnish immigrants in 1929. The founder of the settlement, Toivo Uuskallio, came here with a small group of like-minded fellows, and they had prosaic plans in mind. His idea was to build a community that would live in peace with natureNature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
, and the precepts included a strict vegan diet, with no foods of animal origin. He arrived in the city of Rio with his wife Liisa. They were marveled with the lush natural beauty of the state. After taking some Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
lessons (reportedly at Berlitz), he ended up going by train to nearby Barra Mansa
Barra Mansa
Barra Mansa is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 175,328 and its area is 547 km²....
. From there he started exploring the region, visiting farms and properties in Rio and neighboring states.
He finally visited Fazenda Penedo, then owned by the São Bento Monastery. With 3,500 hectares, it was crisscrossed by fresh water springs and rivers, that were distributed along several altitudes. He could use the large Casa Grande, the main house in the farm, to accommodate his group. He envisioned that the area would allow them to grow both European and tropical flora. He was not aware that the former use of the farm as a coffee plantation had basically drained the most substantial nutrients from the soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
, and that saúva ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s were to cut the plants. In 1929, he purchased the property, and a second group of settlers arrived. After working on the land, they were finally able to plant corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
s, banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
s, flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s, and loofah. By 1935 most settlers had their own individual house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
s. Women took care of the laundry, cooking and vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s, while men tended the earth, planted and negotiated the crop
Crop
Crop may refer to:* Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use* Crop , part of the alimentary tract of some animals* Crop , a modified whip used in horseback riding or disciplining humans...
s.
Many of the settlers did not adapt well to the new country, and returned home to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. When things got ugly with World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
some of them came back to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. The strict vegan philosophy was no longer prevalent, though, and fowl, pig and dairy farming were gradually introduced. Tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
became an alternative. Liisa Uuskallio was the pioneer, using the spacious Casa Grande. Penedo is where Brazilians were introduced to the Finnish sauna
Finnish sauna
The Finnish sauna is a substantial part of Finnish culture. There are five million inhabitants and over two million saunas in Finland - an average of one per household. For Finnish people the sauna is a place to relax in with friends and family, and a place for physical and mental relaxation as...
. Guests could enjoy the healthy lifestyle, delicious food and fresh-baked bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
s, and relax in the river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
. Clube Finlandês opened doors in 1943. Massages and treatments were incorporated into the attractions for visitors. It could be considered the grandfather of today's spas. In 1970, electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
reached the village, and 1980 the first phone
Phone
Within phonetics, a phone is:* a speech sound or gesture considered a physical event without regard to its place in the phonology of a language* a speech segment that possesses distinct physical or perceptual properties...
s were installed.
The Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n style of the house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
s has been preserved, and the village has kept its European charm. With a number of talented local artisan
Artisan
An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...
s, handcraft and carpets (Ryijy and Raanu) are offered in local stores for very attractive prices. Decorative candles, hand-woven blankets and throws are also part of the Finnish legacy. As the descendants of the immigrants stopped growing loofah in the 70's, the traditional bathing gloves, sandals, dolls and other items are no longer available. To compensate, food specialties such as fruit preserves, chutney, home-made chocolates and ice cream are well-known for excellent quality. In addition to nature lovers and gourmets, Penedo is popular with adventure seekers. Rappelling, mountaineering and horseback riding are among the options. If you would rather take things a little more lightly, enjoy the nature trails, waterfalls, go for a few laps in the river, breathe the fresh mountain air.