A cover of the very first Turma da Mônica comic

Ironically, this came out on the same day that my aunt was born (my mom remembers that my grandpa got her a copy so she’d have something to do while they visited my grandma in the hospital). The irony? My aunt’s name is Mônica. For a completely unrelated reason.

Brazilian States Santa Catarina

Capital: Florianópolis
Area: 95.736,165 km²

The Phrygian cap symbolizes the republican forces that govern us; The stalk of wheat symbolizes the farming land; The coffee branch symbolizes the coastal farming; The shield contains the date of the establishment of the Republic in Santa Catarina on November 17, 1889; The key is to remember that Santa Catarina is a strategic point of First Order; The eagle represents the productive forces.

Extra factoids:

Santa Catarina literally translates as “Saint Catherine”

Brazilian History

Before the Portuguese arrived Brazil was known as “Pindorama” - Land of the Pindobas (pindoba is a type of fruit).

Pindobas

The Portuguese renamed it Vera Cruz (Cross of Truth).

The name Brazil comes from the name of a type of hardwood tree called “pau-brasil” which was extremely valued by the Portuguese as a source of red dye.

pau-brasil tree

Educate Yourself!

Education in Brazil is a Federal domain.

In Brazil kids in elementary usually only go to school for half the day. You're either part of the morning class or the afternoon class.


Teachers in Brazil are known by their first name, never their surname. Calling someone Mr./Ms. Surname is considered extremely formal. This goes for all levels of teaching, including university. The closest we come to that is adding Mr./Ms. before an elderly person's name, and even then it's not an absolute you-will-be-shunned-for-not-doing-it must (eg I called the co-principals of my school in Kindergarten/Grade 1 Dona Otília and Senhor Daniel, but that was because they were both well in their seventies/eighties).


A class (especially Primary) is often referred to as a "turma" (usually translated as "gang" but with the modern connotations of gang turma is actually closer to "team"). You would use it to say something like "Eu sou da turma da tarde, a turma da Marlene" (I'm in the afternoon class, the class [taught by] Marlene).

When not using the teacher's first name students often call their teachers “professor/professora” (teacher). The word is often also shortened to “Fessor/Fessora”.


Recess is called "recreio". 


There are three interchangeable words for homework: 
- Dever de casa (literally, home duty)
- Lição de casa" (literally, home lesson)
- Para casa (literally, for home)


Graduation from High School is not considered a big deal. The graduation that gets all the praise and cool gifts is graduating university. 


Colégio does not mean college. It is another word for escola (school). (Eg. Colégio Santo Agostinho merely means "Saint Augustine School").


There is no distinction between college and university in Brazil. They are both known as universidade (university). 

Oh, What's In a Name?

I've heard people get confused over why Latinos have two last names. Here's the thing. We don't have two last names. We have two sobrenomes, or surnames. You get one of your mom's and one of your dad's in any combination they prefer.

This is how it works:

Let's say Bob and Sally had a baby. They name that baby Fred. That's his nome (name). I guess they decided not to give Fred a segundo nome (second name), which in English is known as a middle name.

Now, Sally's full.name is Sally Smith Anderson, and Bob's is Bob Williams Jones. 


This means that baby Fred could be named any of the following combinations Bob and Sally like best:


Fred Jones Smith
Fred Smith Jones
Fred Anderson Jones
Fred Jones Anderson
Fred Smith Williams
Fred Williams Smith
Fred Williams Anderson
Fred Anderson Williams

This means that whatever two sobrenomes his parents choose are both legally his surname, and he can use either one by itself or the two together.

Here's a real life example with Latino names:

My father's surnames are "de Oliveira" and "Flecha". My mom's is "Braga" and "Espeschit".

They then decided that the combination they liked was "Espeschit Flecha". This means that in Brazil I can say my sobrenome is "Espeschit", "Flecha", or "Espeschit Flecha", and they are all legally true.