Real Brazilian Portuguese & Culture
Eyes On Brazil was initially created to provide an English-speaking audience with translations of news and cultural items from Brazil. I’ve spent over a decade studying Brazilian culture and almost two years living in Brazil (where I now reside again). Several years were focused teaching myself Brazilian Portuguese, and as such, I consider myself fluent.
Luis Fernando Verissimo Luís Fernando Veríssimo (born September 26, 1936 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) is a Brazilian writer. Verissimo is the son of Brazilian writer Erico Verissimo and lived with his father in the United States during his childhood. Verissimo states that he had tried many things before writing. In a lecture for the students of journalism at Unisinos, Verissimo said that “at the [...]
Carlos Drummond de Andrde Carlos Drummond de Andrde (October 31, 1902 -August 17, 1987) was perhaps the most influential Brazilian poet of the 20th century. He has become something of a national poet; his poem “Canção Amiga” (“Friendly Song”) was printed on the 50 cruzados note. Drummond was born in Itabira, a mining village in Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. His parents were farmers of Portuguese ancestry [...]
Bonito – Carribean of the Central-West Bonito is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Bonito in the middle of a region which is being discovered as “Caribe do Centro-Oeste” (Carribean of the Central-West) due to the unbelievable blue color of its waters. Owing to the enormous quantity of limestone in the ground, the water of [...]
Festa Nacional do Moranguinho In the Sothern Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul, there is an annual strawberry party in which around 70 strawberry farms from the region show off the crème de la crème of the season. Of course, they don’t exactly do it out of the goodness of their hearts as they hope the tastiness [...]
Jorge Amado - Son of Bahia Jorge Amado de Faria (August 10, 1912 – August 6, 2001) was a Brazilian writer of the Modernist school. He was the best-known of modern Brazilian writers, his work having been translated into some 30 languages and popularized in film, notably Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos) in 1978. His work dealt largely with the poor [...]
Scenic Routes Through the South of Brazil There are a few scenic routes to drive through the South of Brazil which show off the natural beauty of one of Brazil’s most mountainous regions, the Serra Gaúcha. Serra Gaúcha The Serra Gaúcha, or The Gaucho Highlands, is the mountainous region in the northeastern portion of Rio Grande do Sul, a state in [...]
Água de Coco Coconut water is the liquid found inside young coconuts, not to be confused with coconut milk. Coconut water is found in the core of young, green coconuts. As the coconut matures this liquid largely becomes absorbed into the nut’s flesh. Coconut water has long been a popular drink in the tropics, where [...]
Jericoacoara Jericoacoara, Ceará is situated about 327 km (200 mi) to the West of Fortaleza, somewhat near the border with the State of Piauí. The place is often referred to as Jeri, while the municipality is called Jijoca de Jericoacoara. The name Jericoacoara is of Indian origin, and according to the most accepted theory, its meaning is [...]
Tarsila do Amaral – Brazilian Painter One of the most amazing painters to come out of Brazil was certainly Tarsila do Amaral. Born to a wealthy coffee family from inland São Paulo, her high came not from caffeine, but from art. She was central to the Modernista movement of the 1920′s that swept the Brazilian [...]
Maculelê Maculelê (Pronounced: mah-koo-leh-LEH) is an Afro Brazilian dance where a number of people gather in a circle called a roda with one or more atabaques positioned at the entrance of the circle. Each person brandishes a pair of long sticks, traditionally made from biriba wood from Brazil. The sticks, called grimas, traditionally measure 24 inches long by 1 and 1/8 inch thick. As the Maculelê rhythm plays [...]
Ariano Suassuna – Brazil’s Best Playwright Ariano Suassuna (born João Pessoa, 1927) is a Brazilian playwright and author. Four of his plays have been filmed and he is considered one of Brazil’s greatest living playwrights. He is also an important regional writer doing various novels set in the Northeast of Brazil. He received an honorary doctorate at a ceremony [...]
Guimarães Rosa – Grande Sertão: Veredas João Guimarães Rosa (27th June 1908 – 19th November 1967) is regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian writers. The eldest of six children, he was born in the small, remote town of Cordisburgo in Minas Gerais, but later moved to Belo Horizonte, the state capital, where he studied medicine at [...]
