We intend to present here a selection of
Itanhaém's "stories" as well as the rest of the Atlantic
Coast's and the São Paulo Southern Shores', including
their rural areas. If you know any interesting story and
want to help us make a better site, please send it to
editor@itanhaemvirtual.com.br along with your name
that we'll publish your adventure soon! Let's begin with
these ones...
The History
of Iguape's Good Jesus
The history of Iguape's Good Jesus was
widely spread at the time of the Captainship of Itanhaém
(Captainship or Capitania in Portuguese, was the first kind of administrative division
during colonial times in Brazil). The Captainship of
Itanhaém included a
big territory stretching from the surroundings of the
town of Paranaguá (nowadays
located in the State of Paraná in the South) to Cape
Cold (Cabo Frio - nowadays located in the Northern State
of Rio de Janeiro). In 1647 a catholic image was sent to
Brazil but as the ship got closer to the coasts of
Pernambuco in the North (nowadays a State), the
Portuguese-Man-of-War was attacked by pirates. Fearing
that the pirates could profane the image, the commander
put it in a wooden box along with some bottles of olive
oil and throw it in the sea. This way, the wooden box
was taken by the currents to the Southern Brazilian
Coast.
In that same year, two Indians were en
route to the Village of Our Lady of Conception of
Itanhaém, sent there by Francisco de Mesquita who lived
on the Juréia Beach. Both of them saw a box in the
water as they were walking on the Una Beach (nowadays,
near the surroundings of the city of Peruíbe, southwards,
next to Itanhaém). They took the box out of the water
and noticed it contained a religious image along with
some bottles of olive oil. Believing that the objects
were related in some way, they decided to
take the box to the beach. Before continuing to
travel, they took the image and put it on the sand,
next to the bottles and the box.
When their mission was attached in
Itanhaém, they got back but they
noticed the image had its face towards the sunset, in an
opposite direction than the one they have left it, which
was turned towards the sunrise. Very amazed, the
caboclos, hurried up to get back to the place they
lived in order to tell the others what they had seen. In
the next morning, the community leader went to the Una
Beach along with his family and getting down on their
knees before the very image, they started to pray. So
they decided to take it to the Village of Iguape (near
Itanhaém, more than 100 km southwards), crossing the
forests of the Juréia Mountain Range, carrying the image in a
fishnet.
A group of people of the community knew
about the finding of the image and finding Mr.
Jorge Serrano, they said they wanted to take the image
to the Village of Our Lady of Conception of Itanhaém,
because that was administrative center of the
Captainship. As they tried to take the image to
Itanhaém, the image started to weight totally out of
proportion what made them give up to change the
itinerary. Later that day, they found a place to bathe the image in
the waters of a creek before getting ready to arrive in
the Church of Our Lady of Snows (Nossa Senhora das Neves).
From then on, the creek was known as The Lord's Fountain.
Some people said the rock where they had put the image
on in order to bathe it, started to grow continuously
from that moment on.
On November the 2nd, 1647, as they finished
traveling, the image finally arrived in the city of Iguape and was enthroned in the altar of the Main Church.
The story of the miraculous image was spread all around
the region and a number of believers stared to grow day
by day, coming from distant places to beg for
graces. The original image was currently taken out of
the church in processions until the year of 1946. From
this date on, willing to preserve the image and for
security measures, a replica was built for these special
events, keeping the original image safe and enthroned in
the altar of the church, nowadays a Basilica named Good
Jesus of Iguape. A tradition of pilgrimage was
then associated to the city.
Since the times of the
beginning of the colonization,
the patroness of the city of
Iguape has been Our Lady of the Snows (Nossa Senhora das Neves),
a church located in the section of the town named Icapara.
With the removal of the population for another place
named Small Sea (Mar Pequeno),
a construction of a new church dedicated to the Saint
began in 1614.
The Sanctuary of The Good Jesus was concluded in 1856,
substituting the old church and from that time on, Our
Lady of the Snows started to be worshiped along with Iguape's Good Jesus.
Zé (Joseph)
and the Flying Saucers
Zé is the way through which the ones who are named
Joseph are nicknamed in Brazil. He was a humble bricklayer
originally from the State of Sergipe (in the Northern
Brazil) who moved with his family (spouse and three
little girls) to Itanhaém in the second half of the 60's
(almost 40 years ago). They worked also as tenants in
the house they lived which was the secondary propriety
belonging to a family of oriental origin who lived near Sao Paulo
and used the house on vacations and holydays. The house
was located on a street in the section named Cibratel 1,
almost behind the smaller greenish hill next to a higher
one named Paranambuco. From the backyard, they had an
amazing view of all the beach, including the Indians'
Well, The Rocks and The Cibratel Beach. Zé worked hard and
well but he really enjoyed a "caninha" (another name for
the Brazilian sugar cane alcoholic beverage). Once, in
one of those summer nights which the sky was so luminous
with millions of bluish stars, Zé saw a tiny little star up
there in the sky coming from the sea towards the Sea
Mountain Range. All the neighborhood gathered to see
that "walking star in the sky". Zé said he had
never seen "a traveling star" so high, even though some
neighbors remarked that was only a satellite reflecting
the sunlight up there in space,
"because many of them crossed itanhaém's skies",
as another neighbor added. Then Mr. Zé said:
"I had never seen it so high like this one! I've
seen some bigger lights, but in the sea, very
far, above the horizon. I've seen it closer too, as the
light were getting closer to the Rocks. These lights
used to cross the skies a lot when we had just moved
here".
In those times, there was almost no houses in that
section of the city named Cibratel. The time passed,
Zé's family left for the Capital of São Paulo, the
family of oriental origin sold the house and Zé has already died.
This story was all what was left as a memento of those
times - or would it be a history?! Those days were really
good and they will certainly never get back.
Mr. Pompeu
Mr
Pompeu was maybe the most humble and simple man the
whole city of Itanhaém
has ever met. He was from the times that the Cibratel
section was all bush. there was only freshwater but no
electricity - only lanterns. From these ancient times to
the modern ones of the 80's Mr. Pompeu used to cross the streets of the
sections of Cibratel and Belas Artes carrying his
horses, always in a hurry. The children of the 60's and
the 70's were very happy to see those horses and colts.
The children at that time were also very fool and
believed in "the man of the bag". Many of the small
kids used to say he was that man, carrying a bag to
kidnap the children.
"There comes the cripple! There comes the man of
the bag"
.
It was just a childish and foolish thing, very foolish.
Mr. Pompeu was honest and very nice. Sometime later no
one saw Mr. Pompeu anymore, he's probably died, but the horses are still
around the place... Here and there...over
there...there's always a mare with its colts feeding on
the Cibratel fields along the beach. The ones who see
them instantly remember those times and Mr. Pompeu
carrying the horses through the streets in a hurry.
Come and Tell Your Story Too...
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