Parabéns, São Paulo! – Part 1.

A little late to write a new post, but meglio tardi che mai (before late than never), say the Italians. Today it’s holiday in São Paulo, the 459th anniversary of the biggest city of Latin America!  Was I outside, celebrating? – some of you may ask. No, I was actually sleeping! *lol* I spent the whole afternoon replying emails and decided to take a nap, to recover myself, but I slept a little too much … It’s soon yet in Brazil, 09:33 PM, anyway. My brother and friends are here and soon I’ll leave you (No … people, don’t cry! ;p), to join the boys at the kitchen and prepare our snack. We’re all starving!

Anyway, we’re having several celebrations, special events and concerts all over the city, today. So … I think I shall say a few words about São Paulo, right?! It won’t be a encyclopedia entry (I’m not in a wiki mood, today). I’ll always prefer to paint my own portraits . First of all, some basic informations:

This is the city of São Paulo:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNL9_2VlRd_ZkeGEB1gULSi7gR3Wwpl-BsO4L_INF4gSWiLg53geSDS7Wr2ion_9fHQp_-_I2zm4qBk9YUDbrPwAPOLncAmo8__11mHtG_uNhGE-2lF3f2FVqHv_3JrNFPeOa9L6veSc/s1600/Mapa-da-cidade-de-Sao-Paulo.png

This map doesn’t show all the districts of the city!

This is the state of São Paulo:

To see the map at its real size, click here.

The city is the capital of the state! They have the same name, but are not the same thing! When a person says that she or he was born in São Paulo, it not exactly means that she or he was born in the capital (I was born in the capital, for example). So, we have two words to distinguish who was born in the state from who was born in the capital:

Paulista – is a person born in the state of São Paulo, no matter the city.

Paulistana (woman) or paulistano (man) – is a person born in the capital.

I am paulistana and paulista at the same time. A person from Minas Gerais, for instance, will always call me paulista, because we were born in different states. But, if I talk to someone from São José dos Campos (São Paulo’s countryside), he (or she) is paulista and I am paulistana. You, my foreign reader, can call me paulista, if you want. I prefer Luna, anyway.

This is the flag of the state:

http://www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br/bancoImagens/albuns/7015/_d30126.jpg

When I was younger, I was extremely proud to be from São Paulo. Seriously. Many people here, especially in the capital, have this silly and childish pride. So, I wanted to tattoo this flag on my arm.. Fortunately, I’ve changed my mind. Similar prouds are responsible for useless and unecessary hate, conflicts and wars. Don’t be proud of your city or origins, dear reader! Just love who you are and where you’re from. Love is much better than pride!

This is the flag of the city:

http://www.estadosecapitaisdobrasil.com/imagens/bandeiras/capitais/medio/bandeira-sao-paulo.png

This flag is not very popular, here. There’s a sentence in Latin on the coat of arms: Non ducor duco. It means: I am not led, I lead. Only if you live in São Paulo, you understand this sentence deeply! We are independent, brave and … arrogant *lol*. Anyway, I’m sure that a lot of people here not even know that this is the flag of the city and that there’s a Latin sentence on it!

The History of São Paulo (the city) started at Pátio do Colégio, here:

It was a Jesuit school for native indians and also a fortress. This is one of the main tour spots of the city, located at the Centro Velho (Old Downtown). In the beginning (I’m talking about the 16th century), São Paulo wasn’t important at all to the Portuguese colonizers (or to the Portuguese monarchy, to be more precise), even if our story started at São Vicente (São Paulo’s coast). The region couldn’t produce sugar, the Brazilian main export product back then. So, São Paulo was kind of abandoned for centuries, until become a coffee producer. From that time, the story of the city changed completely and São Paulo became the main Brazilian city and the financial center of the country.

I would like to keep writing, but I need to join my friends . So, this it the PART ONE of the post. I’ll do my best to write the PART TWO tomorrow! I’ll end this post with a video (one minute video), which shows some flashes of São Paulo. I found it on a great Brazilian internet portal, called IG.

http://tvig.ig.com.br/id/8a4980263360dd2801350fdf88993108.html

Unfortunately, I couldn’t upload the video itself, but you can click the link above!

That’s it, folks! Thank you so much for your attention (my “newborn baby” is receiving a lot of visits, thanks! Yay! My newborn baby is this blog, ok?! …), stay tuned and see you!

Have a nice weekend

Luna