Made official in 1964 by Law No. 74, the coat of arms of Pomerode was created by the sculptor Ervin Curt Teichmann. The masonry crown symbolizes the administrative unit and the municipal security. To the left above the shield is occupied by the Pomeranian Griffin. On the right, the shield is divided. The white top symbolizes the craftwork in blue and below, in the red field the white wheel represents the main industry of the municipality: the porcelain industry. Below on the left red field, the picture depicts the typical and original tools of the colonists. Right below, you can see a harpy eagle symbolizing the fauna and the Zoo. In the centre of the shield, there is a smaller shield, where there are the national colours representing the feeling of the population. (*author's note: the Brazilian yellow and green colours in the centre were probably either put forcibly by the high government or put by a guilty feeling of the German descendants, considering that the Germans were persecuted during the WWII) Below there is the inscription "Municipality of Pomerode," the year 1863 refers to the settlement of Pomerode in its colonization and January 21, 1959 is the date of the establishment of the Municipality by Law # 380 of December 12, 1958.
City: Pomerode
State: Santa Catarina
Coutry: Brazil
GPS Coordinates
My Commentary: Pomerode is one of the last strong German communities in Brazil. After the persecution to Germans, Italians and Japanese people during the World War II, the German communities became culturally endangered. What is impressive about them and the Italian people in Brazil is that they started from zero, they had just the soil, so it's fair that they keep their culture alive. Getting back to Pomerode specifically the town is calm and actually there is a decent list of places to visit. Its concern to keep the town culturally German is excellent and the event that is held there yearly (among others), the Festa Pomerana, was one of the best cultural events I have ever been to.
My Commentary: Pomerode is one of the last strong German communities in Brazil. After the persecution to Germans, Italians and Japanese people during the World War II, the German communities became culturally endangered. What is impressive about them and the Italian people in Brazil is that they started from zero, they had just the soil, so it's fair that they keep their culture alive. Getting back to Pomerode specifically the town is calm and actually there is a decent list of places to visit. Its concern to keep the town culturally German is excellent and the event that is held there yearly (among others), the Festa Pomerana, was one of the best cultural events I have ever been to.
Links:
Vem Pra Pomerode - Touristic Website
Turismo e Cultura de Pomerode - A Facebook page
Südbrasilien - A Facebook page about the German culture in Brazil
Interesting Facts:
- Pomerode is known as "The Most German Town in Brazil"
- Apart of Portuguese, mostly people in Pomerode speak Hochdeutsch
- Zoo Pomerode was the first zoo in the State of Santa Catarina
- Pomerode is a reference to Pomerania, the place where mostly Pomerode's settlers came from.
History of Pomerode: Pomerode was founded by Pomeranian Germans in 1861 and is considered the "most typically German of all German towns of southern Brazil".One very remarkable characteristic about Pomerode is the fact that Pommersch is still being preserved by the majority of the local population. In Pomerode, as in some other localities in southern Brazil (Santa Maria de Jetibá, Espírito Santo, among them), the German language is not a foreign language, but a Brazilian linguistic regionalism. For a good part of the 20th century, the Brazilian government did not encourage people to speak German. As a matter of fact, at times it was actively repressed and prohibited, like during Getúlio Vargas's presidency. Today, after a long period of suppression, German is part of the curriculum in local schools and tolerated if not always encouraged by regional governments throughout southern Brazil. Pomeranian German (i.e. Pommersch, not to be confused with Slavic Kashubian which is in English also called Pomeranian) is spoken by most town inhabitants of Pomerode, along with Portuguese, mainly by younger people. German-extraction Brazilians who are still bilingual speak the dialect of the regions they came from. In Santa Catarina this is Northern Germany, from Bremen to Danzig. In Rio Grande do Sul it is from the Hunsrück area south-west of Frankfurt and substantially different, at least to Germans. The town government uses "Pomeroy" as the English translation of the town's name on its website, despite being etymologically incorrect. (Wikipedia)
Anthem of Pomerode:
Lyrics and Melody: Aristeu B. Klein
1. Foi em mil oitocentos e sessenta e três,
Que um povo alemão decidiu,
Cheio de esperança e de fé,
Fazer a sua história no Brasil.
Pomerode! Pomerode!
O teu povo se orgulha de ti,
Ó cidade mais alemã do Brasil,
De beleza e graça Deus te fez.
2. Com bravura e determinação sem par,
Construíram sua vida em enxaimel,
Seus jardins e empresas floresceram,
Fizeram do lugar pequeno céu.
Pomerode! Pomerode!
O teu povo se orgulha de ti,
Ó cidade mais alemã do Brasil,
De beleza e graça Deus te fez.
3. Hoje os filhos dos bravos imigrantes
Preservam seu tesouro maior:
A cultura brasileira de origem alemã,
Fruto de trabalho e amor.
Pomerode! Pomerode!
O teu povo se orgulha de ti,
Ó cidade mais alemã do Brasil,
De beleza e graça Deus te fez.
Original Video by Natália Schumacher
The Anthem of Pomerode (Pomerode Lijd) in Pomerian language by Lilia Jonat Stein
My Photos in Pomerode - Trip 2014
Lutheran Church in Pomerode
Central Area
Togerlow Park - Monument to the German settlers
Central Area
Central Area
Museu Pomerano
The flags of Pomerania, Pomerode, Santa Catarina and Germany
My Photos in Pomerode - Trip 2014
My Commentary: I will sum it for now, after about 10 years without visiting our little house in Ilha Comprida, I finally went there with my family. Once there I had the ambitious idea of visiting my friends in the South of Brazil, since Ilha Comprida is in the South of São Paulo. At the end the plan worked better than I thought and I visited many places going by bus and then returning from the extreme South to my town by air plane. The list above follows the sequence of the route I did. It's possible to click in all the towns and get information and photos:
São Paulo
Paraná
Santa Catarina
Rio Grande do Sul
Here below there is a picture with some stuff I brought from all the places I visited.
My Photos in Pomerode - Trip 2014
My Commentary: After coming from Ilha Comprida to Paraná, the next stop would be Pomerode. The bus trip took between 3 or 4hs and the day was very hot. That was my first time in Pomerode and I was very lucky because I would be able to visit the Festa Pomerana Festival. The town is not huge but I was amazed at the calm of the place the fact that they proudly preserve their German origins. I will return there, for sure!
31ª Festa Pomerana - Banda do Barril: Darth Vader plays the accordion
31ª Festa Pomerana - Banda do Barril: Darth Vader plays the accordion
31ª Festa Pomerana: You might dance a lot. I was really sweating!
31ª Festa Pomerana - Die Roeder's German Folk Rock
31ª Festa Pomerana - Die Roeder's German Folk Rock
Marlene Dietrich Square (near the bus station)
Central Area
Togerlow Park - Monument to the German settlers
31ª Festa Pomerana - Musical Wôrin
Central Area
The flags of Germany, Santa Catarina, Pomerode and Pomerania
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