Important Message

Dear Readers,

Due to the Holiday Season, I will not upload any post during this week, because I do not have easy access to the internet where I am.

I wish you all an incredible 2011 and I hope to see you here on 3rd January.

Regards,

Larissa Bona

Merry Christmas

Dear friends, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2011! 

Larissa Bona

Portuguese Community in Brazil

Source: rouxinoldebernardim.blogspot.com

Brazil is the country with the largest Portuguese community outside Portugal and although official records inform that such community have 5 million members, there are unofficial estimations that this number could be of 18 million members.

Most Brazilians have some degree of Portuguese ancestry: some descend from colonial settlers, while others have recent immigrant Portuguese origin, dating back to anywhere between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries.

Due to "miscegenation", Brazilians of different "races" may have Portuguese ancestry: Whites, Blacks, Amerindians and people of mixed race.

There are no reliable figures for how many Brazilians descend from the Portuguese.

This is mainly because the Portuguese presence in Brazil is very old, making it almost impossible to find correct numbers.

Even though most Brazilians have Portuguese ancestry, most Brazilians identify themselves as being simply Brazilians.

In 1872, there were 3.7 million Whites in Brazil (the vast majority of them of Portuguese ancestry), 4.1 million mixed-race people (mostly of Portuguese-Amerindian-African ancestry) and 1.9 million Blacks (some of whom probably had some degree of Portuguese ancestry).

These numbers give the percentage of 80% of people with total or partial Portuguese ancestry in Brazil in the 1870s. 

At that time, the Portuguese were the only Europeans to settle Brazil in large numbers, since other groups (notably Italians) only started arriving in large numbers after 1875.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a new large wave of immigrants from Portugal arrived. From 1881 to 1991, over 1.5 million Portuguese immigrated to Brazil.

In 1906, for example, there were 133,393 Portuguese-born people living in Rio de Janeiro, comprising 16% of the city's population. Rio is still today considered the largest "Portuguese city" outside of Portugal itself.

Genetic studies also confirm the strong proportion of Portuguese genetic ancestry in Brazilians.

According to one study, at least half of the Brazilian population's Y chromosome comes from Portugal. Black Brazilians have an average of 48% non-African genes; most of them may have Portuguese ancestors.

Source: Wikipedia

Larissa Bona

Grandchildren of Portuguese Citizens: Practical Examples Part I

Source: cafepress.co.uk

On my previous posts, I have said it was very common for the grandchildren to have the opportunity to choose between the attribution of citizenship and the naturalisation (acquisition of citizenship), but that I advised to choose the acquisition only if the children of the Portuguese citizen has passed away.

Further on, I provide you practical examples for you to understand why I advise this:

Case - Imagine that Francisco is a Portuguese citizen, who had a son called Joseph who was born in the USA, therefore an American citizen. Later on, Joseph also had a child called John, also born in the USA and also an American citizen. John have read our blog and discovered that, as a grandchild of a Portuguese citizen, he can apply for the Portuguese citizenship. He writes to me and ask me: through which procedure should I apply for the citizenship?

First situation -  Joseph, who is John’s father and Francisco’s child, has passed away:

The indicated procedure in this case is the NATURALISATION (ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP). In the moment that Joseph passed away, he lost the right to apply for the Portuguese citizenship as child.

Therefore, there is not the possibility of him obtaining the citizenship to, then, “transmit” it to John. Thus, the only option left for John is to obtain the citizenship though naturalisation as grandson.

Larissa Bona 

History of Portugal: Roman Lusitania and Gallaecia

Source: Wikipedia

The first Roman invasion of the Iberian Peninsula occurred in 219 BC. Within 200 years, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Empire.

The Carthaginians, Rome's adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies.

The Roman conquest of what is now part of modern day Portugal took several decades: it started from the south, where the Romans found friendly natives, the Conii.

It suffered a severe setback in 194 BC, when a rebellion began in the north. The Lusitanians and other native tribes, under the leadership of Viriathus, wrested control of all of Portugal.

Rome sent numerous legions and its best generals to Lusitania to quell the rebellion, but to no avail — the Lusitanians gained more and more territory.

The Roman leaders decided to change their strategy. They bribed Viriathus' ambassador to kill his own leader. Viriathus was assassinated, and the resistance was soon over.

Rome installed a colonial regime. During this period, Lusitania grew in prosperity and many of modern day Portugal's cities and towns were founded.

In 27 BC, Lusitania gained the status of Roman province. Later, a northern province of Lusitania was formed, known as Gallaecia, with capital in Bracara (today's Braga).

As with the Roman names of many European countries, Lusitania was and is often used as an alternative name for Portugal, especially in formal and literary or poetic contexts.

The 16th century colony, which would develop into Brazil, was named Nova Lusitânia ("New Lusitania").

In common use are such terms as Lusophone, meaning Portuguese-speaking, and Lusitanic, referring to the Community of Portuguese Language Countries — once Portugal's colonies and presently independent countries still sharing some common heritage.

Source: Wikipedia

Larissa Bona

Grandchildren With At Least One Portuguese Grandparent

Source: cafeprees.co.uk

Still discussing case by case who is entitled to the Portuguese citizenship, today we will talk about the grandchildren of the Portuguese citizens.

The Article 6,4 of the Nationality Act establishes that the grandchildren, with at least one Portuguese grandparent, can apply for the Portuguese citizenship through naturalisation, without the need of living in Portugal, as long as his/her Portuguese grandparent has not lost the citizenship.

But opposite to the children of Portuguese citizens, whose the fact of having Portuguese parents is enough to justify their application, the grandchildren must meet further requirements, besides having a Portuguese grandparent, under the terms of Article 22,1 of the Nationality Statute, which are:

• Being over 18: this means that underage grandchildren cannot apply for the naturalisation, not even represented by their parents;
• Having enough knowledge of the Portuguese idiom;
• Not having been found guilty of a crime whose penalty, in Portugal, is of imprisonment of three or more years;
• Have never served the Army or worked for the government of any foreign country.

This procedure is only advised in the situation in which the parent of the grandchild, who is the child of the Portuguese citizen, has passed away before obtaining the Portuguese citizenship for himself/herself.

Summing up:

Case: grandchildren with at least one Portuguese grandparent, born abroad;

Type of citizenship: Derivative Citizenship.

Procedure: Acquisition of citizenship through naturalisation.

Documents to instruct the application: Birth Certificate of the grandchild; ID of the grandchild; Birth Certificate of the Portuguese grandparent; Birth Certificate of parent who is child of the Portuguese citizen; Document proving the knowledge of Portuguese of the applicant; Criminal clearance of the applicant.

Larissa Bona

Brazil vs. Portugal

This is a funny advertisiment made by Nike with the national football teams of Portugal and Brazil.

Very nice!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Larissa Bona

The Portuguese Community in South Africa

Source: crossed-flag-pins.com

The Portuguese explored the coasts of South Africa in the late 15th century, and nominally claimed them as their own with the erecting of padrões (large stone cross inscribed with the coat of arms of Portugal placed there as part of a land claim). 

Bartolomeu Dias did so in 1486, and Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, en route to India.

The early 20th century witnessed a trickle of emigrants from Madeira whose numbers greatly increased in the decades following World War II.

Madeiran immigrants, who are traditionally associated with horticulture and commerce, form the largest group within South Africa's Portuguese community.

The largest single event of Portuguese settlement occurred when two of the former Portuguese colonies, (Angola and Mozambique), became independent in 1975.

While most Portuguese from the two Portuguese-speaking African countries went to Portugal and the rest to Brazil, some of them were allowed to enter South Africa.

Their entrance made South Africa the home of the largest Portuguese African population, numbering about 49 000, but their number grew to 300,000.

One known Portuguese South African creation was Nando’s, created in 1987, which incorporated influences from former Portuguese settlers from Mozambique, many of whom had settled on the south-eastern side of Johannesburg after Mozambique's independence in 1975.

The Portuguese South African community is highly active within the South African community, both politically and economically.

Notable members include Maria Ramos who was the former director general of South Africa's National Treasury. She is currently the Group CEO of ABSA, one of South Africa's largest financial services companies.

Other Portuguese involvement within the business community includes companies like Mercantile Bank.

The community is also actively involved in investment activities with other Southern African countries like Angola and Mozambique.

Socially the Portuguese community have held an annual festival called Lusito Land (the second largest festival in South Africa).

Portuguese-South Africans natively speak European Portuguese (many in the Madeiran dialect), while also adopting South African English, which tends to become the first language of second- and third-generation Portuguese-South Africans.

Some others also speak Afrikaans. Many members of younger generations of Portuguese-South Africans can only speak Afrikaans or English.

Source: Wikipedia

Larissa Bona

Children of Either Portuguese Parent, Born Abroad - Part II

Source: portugalnet.pt

The children of either Portuguese parent, born abroad, even though their Portuguese parent (s) is not serving the Portuguese State, are also entitled to the Portuguese citizenship (remember Portugal adopts the jus sanguinis rule) as long as they declare their wish to become Portuguese.

According to the Article 8.1. of the Portuguese Nationality Statute, all the child needs to do is to declare that he/she wishes to be Portuguese and then register his/her birth in the Portuguese Civil Register Office.

That is, the child must resort to the procedure of the attribution of citizenship through declaration and the child can declare his/her wish to become Portuguese at any moment of his/her life.

If the child is underage, only his/her parents can apply for the Portuguese citizenship. If the child is over 18, only he/she can apply for the Portuguese citizenship.

In all above mentioned situations, the applicant must instruct his/her application with a proof of the Portuguese citizenship of his/her Portuguese parent – Portuguese Birth Certificate.

Opposite to the case of the children of Portuguese citizens serving the Portuguese State abroad, whose registration of birth in Portugal can be made even after their deaths, the right to the citizenship is extinguished with the death of the child of the Portuguese parent and if this happens the citizenship chain is broken, as I have previously explained.

Therefore, if you are child of a Portuguese citizen, even though you do not have any interest in Portugal or Europe, it is important for you to obtain the citizenship, because, if you do not do it, it becomes harder for your children and grandchildren to obtain the citizenship for themselves.

Besides, the Portuguese law authorises the dual citizenship, consequently, the fact you obtain the Portuguese citizenship does not cause the loss of your current citizenship, at least for Portugal, which is a huge advantage because we do not know what the future holds and it is always better to have several options.

Summing up:

Case: children of either Portuguese parent, born abroad, who declare their wish to become Portuguese.

Type of citizenship: Original Citizenship.

Procedure: Attribution of Citizenship through Declaration.

Documents to instruct the application: Birth Certificate of the child; ID of the child; and Birth Certificate of the Portuguese parent.

Larissa Bona

Sounds of Portugal: Fado

Nem às paredes confesso (Not even to the walls I confess) sung by Amália Rodrigues

Fado is currently a worldwide known symbol of Portugal, being represented for many years in foreign countries by Amália Rodrigues, and more recently by Dulce Pontes, Mariza and Katia Guerreiro, among others.

But where did the word Fado came from? It came from the Latin fatum, which means fate, the inexorable destiny that nothing can change. That is why Fado is usually so melancholic, so sad: as it sings that part of destiny that was opposite to the wishes of its owner.

Although taking many forms, as it is sung differently in Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon, the Fado is, by self-earned right, the very expression of the Portuguese soul.

Portugal, since the moment of its birth, emerged in a crossroad of cultures. This makes difficult to point out a precise origin of Fado, but all scholars agree that its origins go back many centuries, maybe even to times before the existence of Portugal as an independent country.

The most commonly accepted explanation, at least when speaking about Lisbon Fado, is that it came from the songs of the Moors, which kept living near Lisbon even after the Christian take-over. The sadness and melancholy of those songs, that are so common in Fado, are a good base to explain the rhythms of Fado.

However, there are those who say that the Fado came to Portugal, once more through Lisbon, under the form of Lundum, the music of the Brazilian slaves. By this explanation, it should have arrived to Portugal with the sailors returning from their long trips, approximately in the year of 1822. Only after a while, Lundum started modifying until it became the Fado. Supporting this belief is the fact that the first songs of the kind were related not only to the sea but also with the lands far beyond them, where the slaves lived. One can look as an example to one of Amália's song, called "The Black Boat", which talks precisely of a senzala (place where the slaves were kept).

Another possibility puts the birth of Fado back to the middle ages, to the time of the minstrels and the jesters. Already in that time one could find the characteristics that even today it conserves. For example, "cantigas de amigo" (friend songs), that were love songs for a woman, have great similarities with diverse subjects of the Fado of Lisbon. The love songs, that were sung by a man to a woman, seem to find kinship in the Fado of Coimbra, where the students intone their songs beneath the window of the loved one (serenades). We still have, in the same time, satire songs, or of disdain that are still today frequent themes for Fado, in social and political critics.

Anyway, Fado seems to have first appeared in Lisbon and Porto, being later taken to Coimbra with the University students (since Coimbra was, during many years, the University city by excellence), and having there acquired different characteristics.

Despite Fado being a symbol of the Portuguese nationality, it is not, by all means, the national song. From region to region, Portugal possesses several rich and typical folklores of each geography, which has nothing to do with Fado. Perhaps we can, if you like, say that it is the form of folklore of Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra.

Extracts from the text The History of Fado published at Lisbon Guide.

Larissa Bona