Flamengos
Encyclopedia
Flamengos is a Portuguese
civil parish on the island of Faial
in the archipelago of the Azores
. Its name was derived from the grouping of Flemish
settlers who made their homes in this landlocked valley, in the municipality of Horta
. In 2001 its population was approximately 1,494 residents, in an area of 14.03 km² (a density of 106.48/km²)
valley was a disaster for the first Captain-Donatário Josse van Huerter
(in 1465. His return in 1466-67 began a new phase in the island's history; discovering the fertile and sheltered geomorphology of the interior valley allowed the group of Flemish settlers to establish a foothold on the island (1468). These early colonizers cultivated small parcels of land along the river, taking advantage of the springs and fertile volcanic soils, cultivating oranges, corn, legumes, as well as servicing the town and other parishes on the island.
The community's primitive church (dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Luz) was constructed shortly after the first settlers established their homes, and was a large three-nave over five pillars, sturdy and well constructed (as the historian Gaspar Frutuoso
recounted in his Saudades da Terra).
In 1597, Flamengos was raided by English
privateers, who remained in the valley for days, pillaging and destroying homes. In 1606 the village of Flamengos had been restored, through the assistance of Jerónimo de Utra Corte Real, and later expanded in 1736, through the initiatives of Manuel Brum da Silveira.
Raul Brandão
, in his As Ilhas Desconhecidas (1926), described the parish in these terms: "This use to be more animated and rich. Everthing around Horta and Flamengos was houses, orchards full of oranges, plants and flowers, the Estate of São Lourenço, the Estate of the Silveiras, the Estate of the Dabneys...". Brandão was referring to a period when the wealthy, rich property owners and farmers had their summer homes and estates within the valley: by 1926, the area was less important for the upwardly mobile, who concentrated in their salons in Horta.
On 31 December 1936, a violent earthquake destroyed most of the buildings and homes in the parish. Unfortunately, a similar event occurred on 23 November 1973 and later on 9 June 1998, which permanently destroyed the church of Nossa Senhora da Luz (Our Lady of the Light).
. The Flamengos valley is an "amphitheater"-shaped area, relatively planar and intersected by ravines that extend from the slopes of the Cabeço do Fogo.
Farmlands dominate the eastern areas and the Flamengos valley, although the flanks of the mountain are used as pastureland and forests. Much of the population is employed in agriculture business, primarily dairy production, while a fraction of the population is employed in other industries.
Flamengos also has a school, a lyceum, a nearby beach, a post office, and a few squares.
.
of São João (along the intersection of the Estrada Regional E.R.1-2ª and Rua da Caldeira, midway towards the summit of the caldera). A community lunch, that includes sardines, musical groups, popular marches, exhibitions, traditional folklore dances are held within the shadow of the small chapel, and rounds out the celebrations.
The Sociedade Filarmónica Nova Artista Flamenguese (Philharmonic Society New Flemish Artists), founded on 23 January 1881, was the first band established in Flamengos. Between 1899 and 1912, its musical director was Maestro Francisco Xavier Simaria, but today Mário Francisco Leal Abreu is currently conducting the brass band. Besides this, there is the Tuna e Grupo Folclórico Juvenil dos Flamengos (Flamengos Chorus and Youth Folklore Group) was founded in 1978 by António da Luz Rodrigues, who served as its director, which recently (1 March 1999) established an ancillary group, the Grupo de Cantares Sons do Vale (Singing Group Sons of the Valley).
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...
civil parish on the island of Faial
Faial Island
Faial Island , also known in English as Fayal, is a Portuguese island of the Central Group of the Azores....
in the archipelago of the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
. Its name was derived from the grouping of Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
settlers who made their homes in this landlocked valley, in the municipality of Horta
Horta (Azores)
Horta is a single municipality and city in the western part of the Archipealgo of the Azores, encompassing the island of Faial. Horta has a population of about approximately 15,038 people and an area of 173.1 square kilometers. The population density is about 88 persons per square kilometer...
. In 2001 its population was approximately 1,494 residents, in an area of 14.03 km² (a density of 106.48/km²)
History
The first settlers that arrived in the area that became known as the Vale dos Flamengos (Flemish Valley, or literally, Valley of the Flemish people), were seeking a sheltered area that provided access to potable water. Their original beachhead, on the Lomba dos Frades, in the Praia do AlmoxarifePraia do Almoxarife
Located in the municipality of Horta, Praia do Almoxarife is a civil parish of the archipelago of the Portuguese Azores. Ironically, for its history , its population has not grown significantly since it was settled...
valley was a disaster for the first Captain-Donatário Josse van Huerter
Josse van Huerter
Josse van Huerter , also known by several transliterations was the first settler, and captain-major of the island of Faial in the Portuguese Azores. After 1482, the island of Pico was also incorporated into his captaincy...
(in 1465. His return in 1466-67 began a new phase in the island's history; discovering the fertile and sheltered geomorphology of the interior valley allowed the group of Flemish settlers to establish a foothold on the island (1468). These early colonizers cultivated small parcels of land along the river, taking advantage of the springs and fertile volcanic soils, cultivating oranges, corn, legumes, as well as servicing the town and other parishes on the island.
The community's primitive church (dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Luz) was constructed shortly after the first settlers established their homes, and was a large three-nave over five pillars, sturdy and well constructed (as the historian Gaspar Frutuoso
Gaspar Frutuoso
Gaspar Frutuoso was a Portuguese priest, historian and humanist from the island of São Miguel, in the Azores...
recounted in his Saudades da Terra).
In 1597, Flamengos was raided by English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
privateers, who remained in the valley for days, pillaging and destroying homes. In 1606 the village of Flamengos had been restored, through the assistance of Jerónimo de Utra Corte Real, and later expanded in 1736, through the initiatives of Manuel Brum da Silveira.
Raul Brandão
Raul Brandão
Raul Germano Brandão was a Portuguese writer, journalist and military officer, notable for the realism of his literary descriptions and by the lyricism of his speech. Brandão was born in Foz do Douro, a parish of Porto, where he spent the majority of his youth...
, in his As Ilhas Desconhecidas (1926), described the parish in these terms: "This use to be more animated and rich. Everthing around Horta and Flamengos was houses, orchards full of oranges, plants and flowers, the Estate of São Lourenço, the Estate of the Silveiras, the Estate of the Dabneys...". Brandão was referring to a period when the wealthy, rich property owners and farmers had their summer homes and estates within the valley: by 1926, the area was less important for the upwardly mobile, who concentrated in their salons in Horta.
On 31 December 1936, a violent earthquake destroyed most of the buildings and homes in the parish. Unfortunately, a similar event occurred on 23 November 1973 and later on 9 June 1998, which permanently destroyed the church of Nossa Senhora da Luz (Our Lady of the Light).
Geography
Flamengos is located about 5 minutes (and 5 kilometers) from the centre of Horta, via several ancillary roadways along the eastern and southern margins of the Atlantic OceanAtlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. The Flamengos valley is an "amphitheater"-shaped area, relatively planar and intersected by ravines that extend from the slopes of the Cabeço do Fogo.
Farmlands dominate the eastern areas and the Flamengos valley, although the flanks of the mountain are used as pastureland and forests. Much of the population is employed in agriculture business, primarily dairy production, while a fraction of the population is employed in other industries.
Flamengos also has a school, a lyceum, a nearby beach, a post office, and a few squares.
Economy
The agricultural characteristics of the parish are well known and in cases represent the characteristics of Beiras and Beiras e Trás-os-Montes. The chimneys represent the typical characteristics of southern PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
.
Civic
- Fontanário das Bicas (Bicas Fountain) - located along the Rua do Capitão was a public fountain used until 1852; it was one of the few fountains used as a public laundry, used communally by the residents of the village, and may have pre-dated the creation of the parish;
- Ponte dos Flamengos (Flamengos Bridge) - this bridge, another symbol of early 20th Century construction, was begun in 1903 and completed by 1908.
- Quinta de São Lourenço (Saint Lawrence Farm) - the old property of Tomás de Porra Pereira, former Captain-Donatorio of Faial, and recently transferred to the islands's Serviços Agrários do Faial (), where for many years it has been used as the location of the island's fairs, expositions, folklore festivals and other activities.
- Jardim Botânico do Faial (Botanical Garden of Faial) - an interpretative center for common endemic and endangered plants, as well as many varieties of medicinal herbs, used by local residents on the island;
Religious
- Ermida de São João de Baptista (Chapel of Saint John the Baptist) - the chapel is located at a junction of the Estrada da Caldeira (Largo Jaime Melo-Estrada da Ribeira Funda) in the foothills of the central caldera, an access that islanders traditionally used for pilgrimages to the caldera on the feast day of John the BaptistJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
(24 June). The erection of a hermitage/chapel came from Manuel da Silveira Brum (who had a summer residence there) and the parish vicar Father João Goulart Cardoso. From the placing of the cornerstone (24 June 1921) the responsibility for the chapel's construction fell to the proprietor and was supported by donations from the local congregation. But the project ran slowly, then stopped in 1925, before being restarted by a stipend from José Rodrigues de Amaral, before his death. In 1944 the chapel was concluded, and blessed on the annual feast day by Father António S. de Medeiros, and the first mass held by Father Goulart Cardoso. The isolated chapel is constructed from basaltBasaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
ic stone in the form of a central nave and tower (constructed over the main entranceway).
Culture
Traditionally, Flamengos has been the centre of annual São João da Caldeira celebrations (or simply Festas de São João) on the island, held on the 23-24 June. These festivals, which have occurred popularly since the 15th-16th century, included pilgrimages from around the island that journeyed to the central caldera, where they would play music, danced and jumped bonfires during the quasi-religious festivities. While the religious pilgrimages were discontinued, the annual festivities continued as a social event with popular marches, food kiosks, picnicking, dances and the community Fogueira de São João (bonfire) highlighting the celebration around midnight. Meanwhile, the following day (24 June) is a municipal holiday (island-wide), that includes a mid-day eucharistic celebration at the hermitageHermitage
Hermitage may refer to:*Hermitage , hermit's dwelling place, a place of relaxing retreat*4758 Hermitage, asteroid-Grapes:* Syrah in Australia* Cinsaut or Cinsault in South Africa and parts of Europe* Marsanne...
of São João (along the intersection of the Estrada Regional E.R.1-2ª and Rua da Caldeira, midway towards the summit of the caldera). A community lunch, that includes sardines, musical groups, popular marches, exhibitions, traditional folklore dances are held within the shadow of the small chapel, and rounds out the celebrations.
The Sociedade Filarmónica Nova Artista Flamenguese (Philharmonic Society New Flemish Artists), founded on 23 January 1881, was the first band established in Flamengos. Between 1899 and 1912, its musical director was Maestro Francisco Xavier Simaria, but today Mário Francisco Leal Abreu is currently conducting the brass band. Besides this, there is the Tuna e Grupo Folclórico Juvenil dos Flamengos (Flamengos Chorus and Youth Folklore Group) was founded in 1978 by António da Luz Rodrigues, who served as its director, which recently (1 March 1999) established an ancillary group, the Grupo de Cantares Sons do Vale (Singing Group Sons of the Valley).