Birget, a student on city planning was telling her experiences in Cuba. Her experiences in the Caribbean Island were quiet strange. While she was narrating some of her observations, my discussion with walker came to mind.
Walker had a marvelous experience in Belize and other Latin American countries with German descendant Latin Americans.
There are German descendant minorities in almost every South American and Central American countries including Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
In the eighteenth century some isolated and small groups of German immigrants came to Latin America mainly from Germany, but also from Switzerland, Austria and Russia. Though the US was the main destination for immigration in the 19th century, the immigration to Latin America also was significant for various other political and economic reasons. Ninety percent of them came to Latin America mainly for Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.
When the first group of Germans arrived in 1824 to Sao Leopoldo, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul in the southern Brazil, after 4 months of traveling, there were 39 people, being 33 Lutherans and 6 Catholics. They found a country with a climate, vegetation and culture very different from those of Germany. Southern Brazil was a land of gauchos, the cattle herders who used, and still live, in the Pampas region of Southern Cone.
In the next decades, however, waves of Germanic immigrants arrived to many areas of the Southern Brazil. They mostly settled in rural areas called colonies. These colonies had been created by the Brazilian government, and the lands were distributed between the immigrants. They had to construct their own houses and cultivate the land.
Germans came to Brazil to work as farmers because there were many lands and job opportunities. The Brazilian government had promised large lands to attract the immigrants, where they could settle with their families and colonize the region. In fact, these lands were in the middle of big forests and the first Germans had been abandoned by the Brazilian Government. The first years were not easy. Many Germans died of tropical diseases, others left the colony to find a better life elsewhere.
In fact, the German colony of Sao Leopoldo was a disaster. Nevertheless, in the next years another wave of 8, 000 Germans arrived to Sao Leopoldo, and then the colony started to develop, and the immigrants established the town of Novo Hamburgo (New Hamburg). From Sao Leopoldo and Novo Hamburgo the German immigrants spread into other areas of Rio Grande do Sul, mainly close to spring of rivers. All the region of Vale dos Sinos has been populated by Germans.
During the 1830's and part of 1840's German immigration was interrupted due to the "War of the Farrapos" in Brazil. The immigration restarted after 1845 with the creation of new colonies. The most important ones were Blumenau in 1850 and Joinville in 1851, both in Santa Catarina state and attracted thousands of German immigrants to the region. Some of the mass influx was due to Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.
In the last third of the nineteenth century immigration to Brazil became so difficult with the "Heydtschen Reskript" (1859) and they started to migrate towards Argentina. In the 1880's and 1890's German immigration to Latin America once again increased with the thirty percenatage of the total emigration from Germany towards Latin America.
Until the end of the 19th century 122 German colonies were created in Rio Grande do Sul, and many others in Santa Catarina, Parana, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Germans had established the first middle-class population of Brazil, in a country divided between slaves and their masters. Germans immigrants in Brazil were the fourth largest immigrant community to settle in the country, after Portuguese, Italians and Spaniards.
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Pennsylvania's Amish County & Mennonite Communities in Mexico
Pennsylvania's Amish county in Lancaster has turned into a wonder land after the Harrison Ford movie "Witness" filmed in 1985. Thereafter each year, a large number of visitors journey to Amish land to experience the excitement.
The Amish Experience, the largest and complete interpretive touring center is located in the heart of the oldest Amish settlement in the world, the county's only designated "Heritage Site" surrounded by Amish farmlands. The customs and life-styles of simpler times still lasting with homes without electricity, and transportation limited to the horse and buggy.
Community celebrations and special events with shopping by roadside stands and quilts to furniture and hex signs, add to the area's unique allure. The Amish Experience in the area's original family-style restaurant and Plain & Fancy Farm will excite the visitors with a la carte dining and the legendary all-you-can-eat dinner of local Pennsylvania Deutsch specialties.
Aaron and Jessica's Buggy Rides and the luxurious Amish View Inn & Suites will add further excitement to visitors.
Today, Amish farming communities are generally prosperous and stable.
Agricultural exchange, a unique exchange program with an Amish order in Pennsylvania made it possible for some Low German Mennonites to survive in Mexico.
Many Low German Mennonites in Mexico are second and third generation immigrants, trying to make their living as farmers in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Their life has become difficult by the poor returns for their wheat and dairy products due to drought.
In 1994, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) helped by organizing a group of eight Amish men from US to visit Mennonite businesses, schools and churches in Chihuahua. Since then, the Amish have worked with MCC to raise a dairy herd, build a modern cheese factory and initiate a teacher training exchange in Chihuahua.
Amish in Pennsylvania along with two other groups in Ohio and Indiana enabled to reduce the poverty in the Mexican Mennonite colonies.
A large number of Mennonites have left to Canada in search of a better economic future. But there are Germans originally settled from then USSR who are very rich and influential in Mexico.
Amish and Mennonite communities are having a common Anabaptist history.
The Amish are conservative descendants of Anabaptists who fled to escape from religious persecution in southern Germany and Switzerland in the 1700s. They settled in Pennsylvania and the U.S. Midwest.
During the Reformation era in Europe the Anabaptist Christians rejected infant baptism and chose believer's baptism. Since many of them had been baptized in their infancy, they chose to be rebaptized as believing adults. So their enemies called them Anabaptists -- "re-baptizers." Mennonites are also descendants of Anabaptists.
Both the Amish and Mennonites speak German dialects, but they still require translators to communicate. As the two groups learned during an evening of singing, they share similar chant-style songs as well.
The establishment of a dialogue has helped to foster discussion. They have established enough trust to discuss painful issues such as divisions within the church. The recent introduction of electricity and rubber tires in some communities has prompted church leaders and many other residents to leave for more conservative colonies in southern Mexico and Bolivia.
The Amish Experience, the largest and complete interpretive touring center is located in the heart of the oldest Amish settlement in the world, the county's only designated "Heritage Site" surrounded by Amish farmlands. The customs and life-styles of simpler times still lasting with homes without electricity, and transportation limited to the horse and buggy.
Community celebrations and special events with shopping by roadside stands and quilts to furniture and hex signs, add to the area's unique allure. The Amish Experience in the area's original family-style restaurant and Plain & Fancy Farm will excite the visitors with a la carte dining and the legendary all-you-can-eat dinner of local Pennsylvania Deutsch specialties.
Aaron and Jessica's Buggy Rides and the luxurious Amish View Inn & Suites will add further excitement to visitors.
Today, Amish farming communities are generally prosperous and stable.
Agricultural exchange, a unique exchange program with an Amish order in Pennsylvania made it possible for some Low German Mennonites to survive in Mexico.
Many Low German Mennonites in Mexico are second and third generation immigrants, trying to make their living as farmers in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Their life has become difficult by the poor returns for their wheat and dairy products due to drought.
In 1994, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) helped by organizing a group of eight Amish men from US to visit Mennonite businesses, schools and churches in Chihuahua. Since then, the Amish have worked with MCC to raise a dairy herd, build a modern cheese factory and initiate a teacher training exchange in Chihuahua.
Amish in Pennsylvania along with two other groups in Ohio and Indiana enabled to reduce the poverty in the Mexican Mennonite colonies.
A large number of Mennonites have left to Canada in search of a better economic future. But there are Germans originally settled from then USSR who are very rich and influential in Mexico.
Amish and Mennonite communities are having a common Anabaptist history.
The Amish are conservative descendants of Anabaptists who fled to escape from religious persecution in southern Germany and Switzerland in the 1700s. They settled in Pennsylvania and the U.S. Midwest.
During the Reformation era in Europe the Anabaptist Christians rejected infant baptism and chose believer's baptism. Since many of them had been baptized in their infancy, they chose to be rebaptized as believing adults. So their enemies called them Anabaptists -- "re-baptizers." Mennonites are also descendants of Anabaptists.
Both the Amish and Mennonites speak German dialects, but they still require translators to communicate. As the two groups learned during an evening of singing, they share similar chant-style songs as well.
The establishment of a dialogue has helped to foster discussion. They have established enough trust to discuss painful issues such as divisions within the church. The recent introduction of electricity and rubber tires in some communities has prompted church leaders and many other residents to leave for more conservative colonies in southern Mexico and Bolivia.
Friday, December 21, 2007
German Memories - Attack on Roman Forces by Germanic Teutons & Cimbri
During the late 2nd century BC, the Teutons were marching south along with their neighbors, the Cimbri and the Ambrones, and attacking Roman Italy.
The Cimbri were ferocious warriors who did not fear death. The host was followed by women and children on carts. Aged women dressed in white sacrificed the prisoners of war and sprinkled their blood, the nature of which allowed them to see what was to come.
Evidence that the Cimbri may have practised ritualistic sacrifice is found in the nearly 1500 year-old Haraldskaer Woman discovered in Jutland in the year 1835. Noosemarks and skin piercing were evident and she had been thrown into a bog rather than buried or cremated.
After several battles with the Boii and other Celtic tribes, the Cimbri and other tribes appeared 113 BC in Noricum ( the today's Austria), where they invaded the lands of one of Rome's allies, the Taurisci. On the request, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, sent to defend the Taurisci, they retreated only to find themselves deceived and attacked at Noreia, an ancient city in the eastern Alps as the capital of the kingdom of Noricum.
In a bloody battle, they defeated the Romans. Only a storm, which separated the combatants, saved them from complete annihilation.
Thereafter the road to Italy was open, but they turned west towards Gaul (modern day France). They came into frequent conflict with the Romans, who usually came out the losers. In 109 BC, they defeated a Roman army under the consul Marcus Junius Silanus, who was the commander of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis. The same year, they defeated another Roman army under the consul Gaius Cassius Longinus, who was killed at Burdigala (modern day Bordeaux). In 107 BC, the Romans once again lost against the Tigurines, who were allies of the Cimbri.
It was not until 105 BC that they planned an attack on the Roman Empire itself. At the Rhone River, the Cimbri clashed with the Roman armies. The Roman commanders, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio and the consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus, hindered Roman coordination and so the Cimbri succeeded in first defeating the legate Marcus Aurelius Scaurus and later caused a devastating defeat on Caepio and Maximus at the Battle of Arausio.
The Roman force was completely overwhelmed and the legate was captured and brought before Boiorix. Scaurus was not humbled by his capture and advised Boiorix to turn back before his people were destroyed by the Roman forces. The king of the Cimbri was indignant at this impudence and had Scaurus executed by being burned alive in a wicker cage.
The Roman force had witnessed the complete destruction of their colleagues. In other circumstances the army might have fled, but the poor positioning of the camp backs to the river caused their total annihilation. The Romans lost as many as 112,000 men including the lost auxiliary cavalry and the non-combatants.
The Cimbri were ferocious warriors who did not fear death. The host was followed by women and children on carts. Aged women dressed in white sacrificed the prisoners of war and sprinkled their blood, the nature of which allowed them to see what was to come.
Evidence that the Cimbri may have practised ritualistic sacrifice is found in the nearly 1500 year-old Haraldskaer Woman discovered in Jutland in the year 1835. Noosemarks and skin piercing were evident and she had been thrown into a bog rather than buried or cremated.
After several battles with the Boii and other Celtic tribes, the Cimbri and other tribes appeared 113 BC in Noricum ( the today's Austria), where they invaded the lands of one of Rome's allies, the Taurisci. On the request, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, sent to defend the Taurisci, they retreated only to find themselves deceived and attacked at Noreia, an ancient city in the eastern Alps as the capital of the kingdom of Noricum.
In a bloody battle, they defeated the Romans. Only a storm, which separated the combatants, saved them from complete annihilation.
Thereafter the road to Italy was open, but they turned west towards Gaul (modern day France). They came into frequent conflict with the Romans, who usually came out the losers. In 109 BC, they defeated a Roman army under the consul Marcus Junius Silanus, who was the commander of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis. The same year, they defeated another Roman army under the consul Gaius Cassius Longinus, who was killed at Burdigala (modern day Bordeaux). In 107 BC, the Romans once again lost against the Tigurines, who were allies of the Cimbri.
It was not until 105 BC that they planned an attack on the Roman Empire itself. At the Rhone River, the Cimbri clashed with the Roman armies. The Roman commanders, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio and the consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus, hindered Roman coordination and so the Cimbri succeeded in first defeating the legate Marcus Aurelius Scaurus and later caused a devastating defeat on Caepio and Maximus at the Battle of Arausio.
The Roman force was completely overwhelmed and the legate was captured and brought before Boiorix. Scaurus was not humbled by his capture and advised Boiorix to turn back before his people were destroyed by the Roman forces. The king of the Cimbri was indignant at this impudence and had Scaurus executed by being burned alive in a wicker cage.
The Roman force had witnessed the complete destruction of their colleagues. In other circumstances the army might have fled, but the poor positioning of the camp backs to the river caused their total annihilation. The Romans lost as many as 112,000 men including the lost auxiliary cavalry and the non-combatants.
German Memories - Germanic Migration From Scandinavia to Southern Europe
While I was narrating the migration of Nagas and other tribes towards the Island, our discussion went back to before the Christian era of Europe where some of the Germanic tribes from Scandinavia were migrating towards the Northern Part of today's Germany.
The southward movement of Germanic tribes were probably influenced by a deteriorating climate in Scandinavia around 600 BC - 300 BC. The warm and dry climate of southern Scandinavia which was a couple of degrees warmer than today, deteriorated considerably, which not only dramatically changed the flora, but forced people to change their way of living and to leave their settlements.
At around this time, this culture discovered how to extract bog iron from the ore in peat bogs. Their technology for gaining iron ore from local sources may have helped them expand into new territories.
After they learnt new technological advancements, the Germanic tribes Teutons and the Cimbri were moving towards the southern parts of Europe. The Teutons were mentioned as a Germanic tribe in early historical writings by Greek and Roman authors, Strabo and Velleius.
The concept of 'Germanic' as a distinct ethnic identity was hinted at by the early Greek geographer Strabo as an adventourous group who dwelt in northern Europe. It was quoted by early chroniclers that "The Germani at noon serve roast meat with milk, and drink their wine undiluted". The Germanic tribes were each politically independent, under a hereditary king. The kings appear to have claimed descendancy from mythical founders of the tribes.
According to Ptolemy's map, the Teutons lived on Jutland, whereas Pomponius Mela placed them in Scandinavia. More than some hundred years before the birth of Christ many of the Teutones, as well as the Cimbri, migrated south and west to the Danube valley, where they encountered the expanding Roman Empire.
In the densely forested north of Europe, there lived more people than could be nourished by the primitive agriculture techniques. The fertile farmlands and pasture grounds of the south and the west were attractive to the Germanic tribes as battling for these areas was far easier than clearing their own forests with iron axes.
The Germanic tribes had been spreading out deeper and deeper into the west and south. At the same time they displaced the Celts up to the Rhine and the Danube, which now would be the borders to Celtic Gaul (today's France) and to Celtic Rhetia (today's South Germany and Switzerland).
The southward movement of Germanic tribes were probably influenced by a deteriorating climate in Scandinavia around 600 BC - 300 BC. The warm and dry climate of southern Scandinavia which was a couple of degrees warmer than today, deteriorated considerably, which not only dramatically changed the flora, but forced people to change their way of living and to leave their settlements.
At around this time, this culture discovered how to extract bog iron from the ore in peat bogs. Their technology for gaining iron ore from local sources may have helped them expand into new territories.
After they learnt new technological advancements, the Germanic tribes Teutons and the Cimbri were moving towards the southern parts of Europe. The Teutons were mentioned as a Germanic tribe in early historical writings by Greek and Roman authors, Strabo and Velleius.
The concept of 'Germanic' as a distinct ethnic identity was hinted at by the early Greek geographer Strabo as an adventourous group who dwelt in northern Europe. It was quoted by early chroniclers that "The Germani at noon serve roast meat with milk, and drink their wine undiluted". The Germanic tribes were each politically independent, under a hereditary king. The kings appear to have claimed descendancy from mythical founders of the tribes.
According to Ptolemy's map, the Teutons lived on Jutland, whereas Pomponius Mela placed them in Scandinavia. More than some hundred years before the birth of Christ many of the Teutones, as well as the Cimbri, migrated south and west to the Danube valley, where they encountered the expanding Roman Empire.
In the densely forested north of Europe, there lived more people than could be nourished by the primitive agriculture techniques. The fertile farmlands and pasture grounds of the south and the west were attractive to the Germanic tribes as battling for these areas was far easier than clearing their own forests with iron axes.
The Germanic tribes had been spreading out deeper and deeper into the west and south. At the same time they displaced the Celts up to the Rhine and the Danube, which now would be the borders to Celtic Gaul (today's France) and to Celtic Rhetia (today's South Germany and Switzerland).
German Bavaria - The Wonder Land
I was seated in one of the chairs at the beach - end table facing the Indian Ocean.
I had hardly seen any objects in the Ocean, but the shining stars in the far distance and the Bavarians near me triggered my thoughts back into the good old Bavaria over the Alps.
Now I could see the several beautiful rivers across Bavaria. The Danube, the Main, the Isar and the Inn were passing so silently. I could also visualise the largest lake in Bavaria, the lake Chiemsee with other picturesque lakes Starnberger and Ammersee near Munich and in the little distance the lake Königssee in Berchtesgaden, which is surrounded by the impressive mountains of the Alps. The lake Bodensee, one of the largest lakes in Europe, which belongs to Bavaria, is silently shining to sun beams.
The scenic panorama of the Bavarian beauty in the vicinity of the Alps lasting for many centuries was saturating my mind. Now I could see with my inward eye the very impressive Alps Mountains with its highest peak Zugspitze offering a breathtaking panorama across several hundreds of peaks with a scenic view of four countries, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Bavaria is one of the oldest states in Europe.
The ethnic group of the Bavarians had come to be mixed with Romans, Celts and Teutons some 2500 years ago. The Otto of Wittelsbach founded the State of Bavaria. Hitler took over power in 1933 and Bavaria became no longer an independent state. After Germany's capitulation in 1945, the American Forces occupied Bavaria.
The events were moving in my inner eye one by one towards the present day Bavaria. Fredrike Wagner has inspired me a lot on Bavaria and the Munich on our tsunami visit to the Northern part of the Island. When I remember Fredrike Wagner, my mind used to recall the legendary Richard Wagner who revolutionized German opera by making the music secondary to the dramatic action. Still in Bayreuth every year the Wagner festival takes place - a high society event. Wagner's most famous works "The flying Dutchman", "The ring of the Nibelungen" and "Tristan and Isolde" are such fascinating works which could inspire any one in the world.
Bavaria is the largest land of the federal republic of Germany with nearly 18 million people. Munich, the capital of Bavaria with more than 1.2 million inhabitants is one of the dynamic cities in Europe and in the world. A number of German Praktikum (Internship) students from Bavaria told me that the culture in Bavaria is very distinct from the rest of Germany. They have told the differences are very marked still in the rural areas but are less significant in the major cities.
The religious faith in Southern Bavaria is the predominant faith of Roman Catholicism, contrasting with the more Lutheran-Protestantism in the Northern parts of Bavaria. The students told the typical expression of greeting in Bavaria and Austria is: "Grüss Gott!" which means God greet you. Bavaria could be proud of the present pope, Benedict XVI, his name being Joseph Alois Ratzinger who is from the Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria.
But when I asked Fredrieke Wagner which religion she is practising, she told simply, "I don't have religion". I wondered and couldn't make out whether she does practise a religion in the Catholic-dominated Bavarian region or she had expressed a mere pleasantry.
I heard that Bavarians resemble the inhabitants of Latin countries and tend to give great attention to their personal appearance, while folks in some other parts of Germany dress more casually. It is fascinating even at business meetings to see southern Bavarians wearing traditional clothing.
Bavarian cities and towns, whether they are rich or poor, are the best looked-after locations in Germany. The students also told me that Bavarians are very proud of their different dialects and most of them speak with a Bavarian, Franconian or Swabian accent.
I also heard from some of the German students and others that the Christian Social Union, which has ruled Bavaria uninterruptedly since 1957, is arguably the most inward looking of the major German political parties, which combines socially conservative positions with an advocacy for extensive involvement of the state in its economy.
I had hardly seen any objects in the Ocean, but the shining stars in the far distance and the Bavarians near me triggered my thoughts back into the good old Bavaria over the Alps.
Now I could see the several beautiful rivers across Bavaria. The Danube, the Main, the Isar and the Inn were passing so silently. I could also visualise the largest lake in Bavaria, the lake Chiemsee with other picturesque lakes Starnberger and Ammersee near Munich and in the little distance the lake Königssee in Berchtesgaden, which is surrounded by the impressive mountains of the Alps. The lake Bodensee, one of the largest lakes in Europe, which belongs to Bavaria, is silently shining to sun beams.
The scenic panorama of the Bavarian beauty in the vicinity of the Alps lasting for many centuries was saturating my mind. Now I could see with my inward eye the very impressive Alps Mountains with its highest peak Zugspitze offering a breathtaking panorama across several hundreds of peaks with a scenic view of four countries, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Bavaria is one of the oldest states in Europe.
The ethnic group of the Bavarians had come to be mixed with Romans, Celts and Teutons some 2500 years ago. The Otto of Wittelsbach founded the State of Bavaria. Hitler took over power in 1933 and Bavaria became no longer an independent state. After Germany's capitulation in 1945, the American Forces occupied Bavaria.
The events were moving in my inner eye one by one towards the present day Bavaria. Fredrike Wagner has inspired me a lot on Bavaria and the Munich on our tsunami visit to the Northern part of the Island. When I remember Fredrike Wagner, my mind used to recall the legendary Richard Wagner who revolutionized German opera by making the music secondary to the dramatic action. Still in Bayreuth every year the Wagner festival takes place - a high society event. Wagner's most famous works "The flying Dutchman", "The ring of the Nibelungen" and "Tristan and Isolde" are such fascinating works which could inspire any one in the world.
Bavaria is the largest land of the federal republic of Germany with nearly 18 million people. Munich, the capital of Bavaria with more than 1.2 million inhabitants is one of the dynamic cities in Europe and in the world. A number of German Praktikum (Internship) students from Bavaria told me that the culture in Bavaria is very distinct from the rest of Germany. They have told the differences are very marked still in the rural areas but are less significant in the major cities.
The religious faith in Southern Bavaria is the predominant faith of Roman Catholicism, contrasting with the more Lutheran-Protestantism in the Northern parts of Bavaria. The students told the typical expression of greeting in Bavaria and Austria is: "Grüss Gott!" which means God greet you. Bavaria could be proud of the present pope, Benedict XVI, his name being Joseph Alois Ratzinger who is from the Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria.
But when I asked Fredrieke Wagner which religion she is practising, she told simply, "I don't have religion". I wondered and couldn't make out whether she does practise a religion in the Catholic-dominated Bavarian region or she had expressed a mere pleasantry.
I heard that Bavarians resemble the inhabitants of Latin countries and tend to give great attention to their personal appearance, while folks in some other parts of Germany dress more casually. It is fascinating even at business meetings to see southern Bavarians wearing traditional clothing.
Bavarian cities and towns, whether they are rich or poor, are the best looked-after locations in Germany. The students also told me that Bavarians are very proud of their different dialects and most of them speak with a Bavarian, Franconian or Swabian accent.
I also heard from some of the German students and others that the Christian Social Union, which has ruled Bavaria uninterruptedly since 1957, is arguably the most inward looking of the major German political parties, which combines socially conservative positions with an advocacy for extensive involvement of the state in its economy.
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German university students donate a boat and engine to an affected fisherman.
Germans university students with Dietmar Doering (centre) at Marawila beach.
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