Philippe Emmanuel

Nom somos celtas, mas Galegos/as

2009-11-08T11:23:00.002-03:30

Daniel Bradley: «Nom somos celtas, mas galegos/as»

(clicando no titulo encaminha-o para fonte)

We are not Celts at all but Galicians

(cliking on the title explains what the link offers)
By Brian Donelly

CELTIC nations such as Scotland and Ireland have more in common with the Portuguese and Spanish than with the Celts of central Europe, according to a new academic report.
Historians have long believed that the British Isles were swamped by a massive invasion of Iron Age Celts from central Europe around 500BC.
However, geneticists at Trinity College in Dublin now claim that the Scots and Irish have more in common with the people of north-western Spain.
Dr Daniel Bradley, genetics lecturer at Trinity College, said a new study into Celtic origins revealed close affinities with the people of Galicia.
He said: "It's well-known that there are cultural relations between the areas but now this shows there is much more. We think the links are much older than that of the Iron Age because it also shows affinities with the Basque region, which isn't a Celtic region."
He added: "The links point towards other Celtic nations, in particular Scotland, but they also point to Spain."
Historians believed the Celts, originally Indo-European, invaded the Atlantic islands in a massive migration 2500 years ago.
But using DNA samples from people living in Celtic nations and other parts of Europe, geneticists at the university have drawn new parallels.
Dr Bradley said it was possible migrants moved from the Iberian peninsula to Ireland as far back as 6000 years ago up until 3000 years ago.
"I don't agree with the idea of a massive Iron Age invasion that took over the Atlantic islands. You can regard the ocean, rather than a barrier, as a communication route," Dr Bradley said.
Archaeologists have also been questioning the links between the Celts of eastern France and southern Germany and the people of the British Isles and the new research appears to prove their theories.
The Dublin study found that people in areas traditionally known as Celtic, such as Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Brittany and Cornwall, had strong links with each other and had more in common with people from the Iberian peninsula.
It also found people in Ireland have more in common with Scots than any other nation.
"What we would propose is that this commonality among the Atlantic facade is much older, 6000 years ago or earlier," Dr Bradley added.
There are also close links between Scotland and Ireland dating back much further than the plantations of the 1600s when many Scots moved to Northern Ireland in search of fertile farming lands, the research showed.
However, the researchers could not determine whether fair skin, freckles, red hair and fiery tempers truly are Celtic traits.
Stephen Oppenheimer, professor of clinical socio-medical sciences at Oxford, said that the Celts of western Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Cornwall were descended from an ancient people living on the Atlantic coast when Britain was still attached to mainland Europe, while the English were more closely related to the Germanic peoples of the interior.
He said: "The English are the odd ones out because they are the ones more linked to continental Europe. The Scots, the Irish, the Welsh and the Cornish are all very similar in their genetic pattern to the Basque."

The study headed by Dr Bradley was published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

From: The Herald, 10th September, 2004

DNA shows Scots and Irish should look to Spain for their ancestry
JOHN INNES

THE Irish and Scots may be as closely related to the people of Spain and Portugal as the Celts of central Europe.

Historians have long believed the British Isles were invaded by Iron Age Celts from central Europe in about 500 BC. But geneticists at Dublin’s Trinity College now claim the Scots and Irish have as much, if not more, in common with the people of north-western Spain.

Dr Daniel Bradley, genetics lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, said a study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics into Celtic origins revealed close affinities with the people of Galicia.

"It’s well known that there are cultural relations between the areas but now this shows there is much more," Dr Bradley said.

Historians believed that the Celts, who were originally from the Alpine regions of central Europe, invaded the Atlantic islands in a massive migration 2,500 years ago. But Dr Bradley said that it was possible migrants moved from the Iberian peninsula as far back as 6,000 years ago and up until 3,000 years ago.

The study, using DNA samples from people living in Celtic nations and other parts of Europe, found there are also close links between Scotland and Ireland dating back much further than the Plantations of the 1600s, when many Scots moved to northern Ireland in search of fertile farming land.

From: The Scotsman, 10th September 2004

The Irish are not Celts, say experts
By Jan Battles

The long-held belief that Ireland's population is descended from the Celts has been disproved by geneticists, who have concluded that they never invaded Ireland.

The research at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) into the origins of Ireland’s population found no substantial evidence of the Celts in Irish DNA, and concludes they never settled here en masse.

The study, part-funded by the National Millennium Committee, has just been published in The American Journal of Human Genetics. It was one of four projects funded by the government under the Genetic History of Ireland programme, which aimed to provide a definitive survey of the origins of the ancient peoples of Ireland.

Part of the project’s brief was to “discover whether there was a large incursion by Celtic people about 2,500 years ago” as was widely believed. After comparing a variety of genetic traits in Irish people with those of thousands of European and Near Eastern inhabitants, the scientists at TCD say there was not.

“Some people would go as far as saying there was total replacement of the population (of Ireland) 2,500 years ago,” said Brian McEvoy, one of the authors. “But if that happened we would definitely be more related to people in central Europe, because the Celts were supposed to have come from there. We’re just not seeing that. We’re seeing something earlier. Our legacy is the result of the first people to settle in Ireland around 9,000 years ago.”

About 15,000 years ago, ice covered Ireland, Britain and a lot of northern Europe so prehistoric man retreated back into Spain, Italy and Greece, which were still fairly temperate. When the ice started melting again around 12,000 years ago, people followed it northwards as areas became habitable again.

“The primary genetic legacy of Ireland seems to have come from people from Spain and Portugal after the last ice age,” said McEvoy. “They seem to have come up along the coast through western Europe and arrived in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It’s not due to something that happened 2,500 years ago with Celts. “We have a very old genetic legacy.”

While we may not owe our heritage to the Celts, we are still linked to other populations considered Celtic, such as Scotland and Wales. McEvoy said: “It seems to be more a cultural spread than actual people coming in wiping out and replacing everyone else.”

A PhD student in Trinity’s department of genetics, McEvoy will present the findings tomorrow at the Irish Society of Human Genetics annual meeting.

He and Dan Bradley of TCD took samples of mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited from the mother, from 200 volunteers around Ireland using cheek swabs. They also compiled a database of more than 8,500 individuals from around Europe and analysed them for similarities and matches in the sequences.

They found most of the Irish samples matched with those around Britain and the Pyrenees in Spain. There were some matches in Scandinavia and parts of northern Africa.

“Of the Celtic regions, by far the strongest correspondence is with Scotland,” said Bradley. “It corresponds exactly with language.” While that could be due to the Plantation of Ulster, Bradley said it was more likely due to something much older because the matches occur throughout the whole of Ireland and not just the north.

The geneticists produced a map of Europe with contours linking places that were genetically similar. One contour goes around the edge of the Atlantic, around Wales, Scotland, Ireland and includes Galicia in Spain and the Basque region.

“This isn’t consistent with the idea of a large invasion here around 500BC,” said Bradley. “You would expect some more affinity with central Europe if we owed the bulk of our ancestry to a movement from central Europe but we don’t.”

Some archeologists also doubt there was a Celtic invasion because few of their artifacts have been found in Ireland.

From: The Sunday Times, 5 Sep 2004

PortuGaliza

2009-11-08T11:00:00.006-03:30

Portugal and Galiza are regions with the same culture, language and ethnic people. Portugal is a creation of the galego's genius. Portugal is Galiza who extended their conquest through south from what we called Southern Gallaecia (today northern Portugal).

In the Galician borderline with Portugal, what is promoted is not only the clichés of the thought as “different” (i.e.: landscape, beaches, green, gastronomy, handcraft, cultural heritage, sportive activities, etc.), but also the
“resemblance” and the cultural identity Galician-Portuguese.

In PortuGaliza it is built an imaginary of the Galician-Portuguese recognized as a positive value, it is pointed out what joins and not what separates.

The Iberian democracies, the entrance in the European
Union, the new ways of communication and the circulation of euro have contributed to warp the Iberian borders and the limits that it conserves are studied by the anthropology, the said mental limits.
The above-mentioned factors have allowed not only the erasing of the borders as a process of re-inventing the borderline, beyond border and transnational identities. The tourism and specially the tourist images constitute a
field of special importance to observe and to analyze these identities and the processes of identifications.

Wit regards about the language, I may infer from its very wording that portuguese is, actually, cultivated Galician, or modern Galician. In conclusion, it seems to be more genuine and faithful to conceive Galegophone instead of Lusophone.

If you agree please help by joining the PortuGaliza group on Facebook. Here you will find more useful links.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require further informations.

Kind Regards,

Galiza - Celtic Country

2008-01-22T14:55:00.000-03:30

ORIGIN OF THE CELTIC GALIZA

The Milesians come from Galiza. Independent Irish and Galician traditions agree on this point.

The hypothesis of the Gaels coming from Galiza as in the Gaelic tradition can be read is here compared with the Galician tradition and same Celtic gaelic origin. Communication by sea between Galiza and Éire can be traced to prehistoric times. This confirm that the sea route Galiza-Éire was a reality in more recent historic times, after the 6th century b.C. when Galicia and Éire were already settled by gaelic Celtic tribes.

The names galego and Galiza came from the gaelic "old woman", more convenient the mother goddess Caillaech. In two altars in Sobreira, close to Porto, the name of the mother-goddess in its latinized form reads "Calaicia". (More on this topic, written in the modern Galician language can be read in chapter 1 of the book Galiza Celta)

When the Romans first come to Galiza, the historical Gallaecia, after crossing the river Douro, they found the first Celtic tribe: the worshipers of Caillaech, from where came the first Latin name for the area, "Cal-leac-ia", and the name of the people, the "Cal-laec-i". The people local particular celtic hard pronunciation rend it "Gal-leac-ia" and "gal-leg-o", from were come the actual name, Galiza or Galicia. So Galego means "the sons of the mother goddess", and Galiza "the beautiful land of the Mother-goddess" of the gaelic Celts.

The Roman general that defeated this Celtic tribe was given the surname of Decimo Junio Brutus the Galleacus (Calaicus). The Latin origin of the radical "gal-" could be traced from the early contacts between Latin and Celtic people in Central Europe. (The name of the present Polonaise town of Kalizs which gave origin to the similar name of Galicja came as well from the mother-goddess, Calleach). So the Greek "keltoi" become "gal", "gal-li" for the Romans. The names "gaels", "galego", "galos" have the very same origin.

The Celtic Gaels, speaking Gaelic, who are the people of the first invasion of Éire, came not from Spain, but from Galicia, from the other side of the bay, as we use to say.

Galiza is the only Celtic country left in the Iberian peninsula. The few tribes in Central Spain of mixed Celtiberian blood were completely annihilated by the Roman general Servius Sulpicius Galba in 151 b.C., who massacred the Celtiberians and mixed blood of Celts and Iberians after they had surrendered. For this massacre of children and women he was charged by the roman Senate with war crimes.

The tradition of both countries, Galiza and Éire, related with this sailing, the crossing of the Celtic sea from A Coruña to Cork, and over two thousand years apart, have a lot of surprising similar points.

Written tradition is no less wrong than oral tradition. Also, putting in write something doesn't make it more true. Tradition, written and oral, play an important role helping to interpretate and to build hypothesis to understand history. Coherency of history can't be neglected.

Graffiti on the rocks was the game some three or four thousand years ago. We are talking about petroglyphs.

A Galician Petroglyphs such as round motifs: circle with a cross inside (Celtic cross), circles with a dot in the center, circles with a small concentric circle inside, circles with a line showing the center or the spiral showing its center are very common on the Atlantic side of Europe and exclusively of the seashore lands. They are most important for its number and similarity in Galiza and Éire, but they are found from Brittany until Scotland. Another such typical seaboard Petrography are arms designs. They are too found in the Atlantic Europe area, in the presently known as Celtic Lands. Because they are difficult to date, for obvious reasons, we can assert a certain date, but they are old enough to put all b.C. and many centuries before. We can also find some exclusive type of bronze axes for Galiza and Éire, along with lots of archeological similarities between both countries.

The point is that there is not other explanation than the people around the Celtic sea, this triangle extending from the Galician Fisterra to the Breizh Finistère to the Kernow Lands End and to South Éire, have had contacts by sea in pre-historic times.

A sail from Galicia to Brittany could be 2 to 3 days away, from Galiza to Wales 2 to 4 days and from Galiza to Éire can take from 3 to 5 days. And shorter in the all the others cases. If pre-historic people could do such navigation, then more recent, historical people as the Celts, could do it also.

The more traditional way of navigation two thousand years ago could be coastal navigation, for it seems to be the simplest way. It is well know that Mediterranean people as well the Vikings used coastal navigation for they salings. There was another kind of navigation which still is in use today and fits better our purposes: following the predominant winds.

For the area Galicia-Éire, a 480 miles sail or less, both countries are in the same meridian, about 6 degrees west, the navigation could be the easy north-south. The predominant winds are from the west, a reach sail; good weather, anticyclone for the area, the winds are from the NW, a depression in the area the winds are from the SW. To navigate North-South (Éire-Galiza) or South-North (Galiza-Éire) will be the easy way because with the western predominant winds we could have a reach or tree quarters back. Also, not need for a compass, the stars can do it, this is south-north navigation. Galiza and Éire are across the bay.

The first historical people of Galicia were gaelic Celts, and this country was heavily settled by Celts before the VI century b.C. Communication by sea, between the different Celtic countries of the Atlantic land-ends was a reality as archeology has proven. There has been found traces of brythonic Celts in Galiza from this period ("Briteiros castrodun") and we know from History that brythonic Celts came to Galiza lately in the 5th and 6th centuries a.C. (like bishop Maeloc); they were the same people that sailed to Armorica from saxon England to create Breizh (Brittany) and they knew well the other Celtic countries with which they have many contacts. They do not sailed to North Spain (Iberian countries, such as Astures or Vascones) or Southwest of France (Aquitanians, also Iberians), but they come to Armorica (Breizh) and Galiza, both Celtic countries. So this is a evidence of the sea communication between the different Celtic countries b.C.

What it is well know from history too is that before the roman colonization at the end of the first century b.C. (3rd century in Galicia) there was a strong connection by sea, across the Celtic sea between the Celts of the many land ends: Éire, Galiza, Wales, Scotland... Descriptions and pictures of the leather boats are well known.

Galician fishermen have being fishing and sailing in the Celtic sea from centuries, on the "Gran Sol" (i.e. the Irish Box). On the sea, the best routes are determined by the predominant weather conditions. This route is well established. The Galicians have born to sail and the North-Atlantic seas were also part of their own home from centuries.

Legends and myths play an important role in every Celtic culture. The Celts didn't have any writing, simply did not write, for all the knowledge was transmited in oral form. All we know about their knowledge came through other people who interpreted it with the filter of their own knowledge, most them fiercest enemies.

We call most of the Celtic oral tradition myth or legends because they have intermixed natural and supernatural things, possible and impossible, real and imaginary, true and false... So we just don't trust people that said true and false, because we do not believe in their purpose, they try to mix-up. For the Celts this was not their intention, what to us appears as supernatural, impossible, imaginary... was part of their reality, as is today is in many Celtic countries. Water, rocks, nature is supernatural, all have specific powers, all are part of the real life. In Galiza today this is so strong that you´ll finish believing yourself. People go to specific places, most today with Christian names and Saints as central figures, to cure of specific ailments: Serans for the warts, Ribacarte to full dead, Ortigueira you´ll go live or dead, the night of the solstice (Briga) to fall pregnant, the water of the river, the Laxe... they are old Celtic recipes and they do work indeed! Any Galician will confirm it to you.

We should understand too that most of these "myths" were only written in very recent times (many centuries after and by religious people) compared with the time of occurrence. This is the case for the Book of Invasions of Éire (Leabhar Gabhala), which was done by people who had a very important knowledge of the Bible and its related myths, probably the only people that could write. So they incorporated a lot of Christian and biblical myths to Celtic ones.

But it is yet possible to extract some information from myths. These tales were written many centuries after, in a period when Christianity was so powerful and have so much influence over all aspects of life that this is what is most noticed in these relates. The Bible was the Book, the most important around to whom everything is referred and measured. The important things in history and knowledge were to be found in the Bible, its people, its lands. The Mediterranean world, Hebrews, Egyptians... had the most importance, references to this biblical world, they were important, they established the rule, the measure:

"We sailed the river Nile, we sailed across the sea, and as Cailleach's navigator, we sailed the Iberian coast to the river Munda. And with our swords and shields we settled on the coast of what you call Portugal. Our life was good. Scota's sons and daughters sailed to Ireland and Scota's grandchildren carried their arms and shields into northern Albyn where they fought the Grog-Magog and Termagol and in honor of their Queen and grandmother they called themselves Scots and their new land Scotland. I and my wife Queen Scota and my grandchildren and our Clan had arrived in the land from the dream time." -- (Chuck Larkin referring to a 19th century written and oral tradition of Scotland).

I want to notice that in North Galicia there is a river called Mondego very close from another called Mendo, and this is exactly the area were the Galician tradition places the sail of Ith, son of the Galician Celtic king Breogán, to Éire, call in the Galician tradition "the green-island"! Also Portugal is a recent name and was formed by the scission of the old Gallaecia in two kingdoms: South of Gallaecia was the Lusitania, the main part of today Portugal, where a river called Mondego is also located, on the border of the historical Galicia.

The Greeks gave the name of Esperia and the Romans Hispania from the cartaginese name of the country to the South and Mediterranean sides of the Iberian Peninsula, first till the Ebro river, and lately for the whole area with the only exclusion of the West side, i.e. Galiza and Lusitania that are naturally separated by mountain chains (the border Spain-Portugal is the most stable and oldest border of all Europe). Lately, for roman purposes only, they extended the name to the whole peninsula. Moreover, the name "Easpain" which was only applied to the mass of land on the East side of the Iberian peninsula, was applied by Irish monks to the whole peninsula. But to the south of Éire lies the only land heavily settled by Celts, that today is called Galiza to remember its first historical settlements, the gaelic Celts, from where the Gaels come.

So if we take off all reference to the Mediterranean world, all that comes from the biblical myth, there is certainly not much left but, even if corrupt in time, this something that is left, could be compared with other sources.

Without making any conclusion I would like to refer you to the book of invasions of Éire, who is the oldest in Celtic mythology to my knowledge.

I retain that Scotta marry Mil (referred also as Mile, Milesius, Golamh...). Both came from the Otherworld, the land of dead and they have sons: Ir, Bregon, Arannan... The sons and the grand-sons sailed to Éire. This is the invasion of the gaelic Celts, the Gaels. Ith the son of Bregon was born in the other land were his father had built a big tower.

The present town of A CoruñaNow, in accord with present Galicia's tradition, the Galician Breogán had built a big lighthouse in Brigantia (today know as A Coruña, and rebuild by Romans and more recent times exactly in the same place, still a landmark looking to the Celtic sea and remembering every one of this sail more that two thousands years ago, the sailing by Ith from Galiza to Éire), he and his sons have sailed in a leather boat, a trip of five days, to a green land at the north, just across the sea they use to sail. (As we have seen, five days is about the time for a sail between Galiza and Éire). Avenues talking of the "galegos", the Galicians, made a full descriptions of its leather boats, picture on rocks of the time confirm.

Now the hypothesis of considering the Otherworld of the book of invasion as Galiza and the green land of the galegos as Éire. The hypothesis of identifying Gaels = Galegos is very appealling.

In the first hand, with a little of knowledge about navigation, it's easy to realize that a sail from Galiza to Éire and back is a very easy sail in the prevailing wind conditions, a natural way to sail. For a sail of less that 500 miles in the direction south-north and reverse, is of simple navigation even at that old times, specially if you know that the prevailing winds are some times SW and others NW. This would make a perfect navigation and easy land fall in both ways for a sailing craft.

Two, identifying Galiza with the Otherworld, the land of dead, the land of Mile and Scota is not difficult in accord to Galicia's references.

Even today, the west coast of Galiza has the name "Costa da Morte" (Coast of Death). But the main reason I want to advance is the deep cult to death, still very alive in the whole Galician country and specially in the north-west coast. Celtic traditions, older than more than 2,000 years, are still alive (though now christianized): the living people play death to escape from dead. Many villages conserve this particular tradition: A Póvoa do Caramiñal, Rivacarte... where alives fools deads. The death are always present on the streets at night, being named the "ánimas" or "a estadea" in Galician (from the all Gaelic "eistedd" and "ann" meaning, i.e., "gathering of dead", and this is exactly what for Galician means). You can hear them in the dark nights of winter as they pull their chains and they mock you... the Halloween night you see them everywhere. And this is true! You can see the dead, ask any Galician. Because the Catholic religion forbidden to believe in not Christian supernatural spirits, Galicians use to say: "crér non creo, pero habelas hainas" [I just don't believe, but they do exist indeed].

Many aspects of life in Galiza reveal this deep identification with the world of the dead. The OtherWorld of the Gaels, the people that emigrated from there, was Galiza the land they know well (the OtherWorld = the OtherLand = Galiza) and too the land where the cult to the dead (Land of Dead = Land the cult to death) was so deeply enrooted, as still today, the land of the dead, as today the West coast of Galiza carry this name.

For the Galicians, Breogán is the founding father of the Galician Celtic nation and they recognized as such in the present Galician national anthem where they sing to Breogán.

The lighthouse in Brigantia (A Corunha) is still there, in the same place where Ith was born (know today as "the Hércules Tower", a name given from a bad interpretation in the last century when the Spanish idea of the supremacy of the Mediterranean world over the Atlantic world was dogma). It was is this tower, the oldest lighthouse emplacement in the Atlantic world, first build by Breogán and rebuilt many times after, always in the same place.

Next, identifying Éire's Bregon with Galiza's Breogán is not really difficult if we know from Éire's invasion book, that the son of Bregon, Ith, was born in the Otherworld and has lived there in a tower build by his father (the lighthouse of Art-o-briga, Galician Gaelic for "the bear of the goddess Brig", the town of A Coruña, still today in the same place.

It is clear that the Gaels came from Galiza, where the same people are still called "galegos". That Mil and Scotta are born there and that this two names become two Irish names. From Scotta came the name of a people that later come to Alba and... history follows. Scota is the wife of Mil. This name, Mil, means, or late is used to mean a "warrior". There is even today in Galiza lots of names of villages who use the old gaelic word "mil = warrior", such as Ardemil (Gaelic for high-warrior), Belmil (warrior of Bel), Antemil, and so on.

So, if some invasions of Éire came from the South, they came from Galiza. Galiza and Éire share many traditions, the same Gaelic Celtic heritage (see, in Galician, Galiza Celta chapter 5) and "they are just across the bay". You want a better proof, take an old Gaelic dictionary (the old Gaelic roots better) and you will be happy surprised to translate most of the old Galician place-names. In the Galician toponimy are written the oldest aspects of the Celtic culture in Europe. Galiza, this great forgotten Celtic land.

Virtus et Vitium

2007-08-30T16:25:00.000-02:30

L'Ethique de la Vertu

Les anciens accordaient une importance fondamentale à l’éducation morale en vue du développement de la vertu. De Platon à Aristote, d’Epictète à Sénèque, le mot revient sans cesse dans les textes. Mais pour nous c’est un terme qui ne va plus de soi, un terme que nous trouvons niais, vieillot et démodé. Nous sommes dans la postérité de Sade avec Les infortunes de la vertu. Petite vertu de la virginité, vouée à la perte dans la consommation de la sexualité. Un étudiant a beaucoup de mal a comprendre le sens ancien du mot vertu et il lui est très difficile de faire une explication de texte sur ce thème. Signe tout à fait caractéristique, ce que l’on désignait autrefois sous l’appellations des « vertus », tel que l’honnêteté, le courage, la fidélité, la pudeur etc. est aujourd’hui interprété sous un nom différent : nous parlons nous de « valeurs ». Or être attaché à des valeurs n’a pas le même sens que de cultiver des vertus. Cela nous engage moins.

Remettre à la mode une notion aussi ancienne que la vertu dans un contexte postmoderne passe pour une étrange gageure. Cependant, le défi mérité d’être relevé. Nous reconnaissons aujourd’hui que l’éducation morale est indispensable. Il se pourrait bien que seule la vertu puisse sauver le monde du chaos. Nous aimerions donner aux générations à venir les rudiments d’une morale civique. Mais comment nous y prendre ? Faut-il revenir aux leçons des anciens ? Devons-nous redonner un sens à la vertu ? L’éthique peut-elle en donner une définition claire ? Qu’est-ce que la vertu ? Une habitude acquise de conformité aux bonnes mœurs ? Un effort persévérant vers le bien ? Un qualificatif purement relatif de ce que nous opposons à ce que nous prenons pour des vices ? Un idéal moral ?

* *
*

Dualité de la vertu et du vice et postmodernité

Dans le domaine du relatif, une chose ne peut être pensée sans son contraire ; la vertu est indissociable de son contraire le vice. Vertu/vice ne peuvent pas plus être séparés, que plaisir/douleur, (texte) bien/mal, ou bonheur/malheur etc. Dans l’attitude naturelle, une vertu est une qualité qui fait l’objet d’une louange et d’une approbation morale, et le vice est un défaut qui fait l’objet d’un blâme et d‘une réprobation morale. Il est par exemple assez curieux de remarquer que dans la représentation commune l’idée est de connaissance de soi est d’abord entendue ainsi : « c’est important de connaître ses défauts et de ne pas sous-estimer ses qualités » ! De même on entendra dans le même sens la connaissance d’autrui (voir les « bons côtés » de quelqu’un, ne pas trop s’attarder sur ses « défauts »). La signification du terme de vertu est obscure. La signification du terme de vertu est obscure. Nous ne parlons plus de vertu. Pourquoi ?(texte)

L’homme postmoderne n’emploie pas le mot « vertu » et il réserve le mot « vice » uniquement pour désigner un comportement sexuel obsessionnel. Cependant, il juge et condamne éperdument, il sait procéder à une évaluation morale dans laquelle il est « bien » de posséder certaines qualités et il « mal » d’avoir les défauts contraires. Il reconnaîtra en aparté que la qualité de retenue devant la nourriture et pensera que la gourmandise est un « vilain défaut ».

Si nous devions mettre sur papier la dualité vertu/vice sous la forme de tableau, nous pourrions par exemple figurer :

Vertu	Vice
Honnêteté	Malhonnêteté
Responsabilité	Irresponsabilité
Prudence	Témérité
Justice	Injustice
Courage	Lâcheté
Véracité	Mensonge
Bonté	Méchanceté
Pudeur	Impudeur
Droiture	Opportunisme
Grandeur	Bassesse
Humilité	Orgueil
Dignité	Indignité
Douceur	Dureté
Fidélité	Infidélité
Tolérance	Intolérance
	Ecaetera…

Veronese, Virtus et Vitium

Pour un texte intégral visitez la page suivante: Forum Philosophica

L'Oiseau et l'enfant - Grand Prix Eurovision France 1977

2007-07-15T18:04:00.000-02:30

Língua e Cultura Portuguesa: Petição Internacional

2007-02-07T09:46:00.000-03:30

Official Petition Promoted By The C.U. Portuguese Speakers Society Against the Closure of Portuguese course at Cambridge University

A Universidade de Cambridge prepara-se para fechar o Departamento de Língua e Cultura Portuguesa, o qual tem contado com apoio financeiro do Estado Português.

VISITE A PETIÇÃO INTERNACIONAL

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/portsACP/petition.html

POR FAVOR ASSINE A PETIÇÃO E ENVIE O LINK A TODOS OS SEUS CONTACTOS

Aproveito para deixar uma estrofe do Luis Vaz de Camões, mais que oportuno, relembrando o valor incomensuràvel da Língua Portuguesa.

(...)
Cessem do sàbio Grego e do Troiano
As navegações grandes que fizeram;
Cale-se de Alexandro e de Trajano
A fama das vitórias que tiveram;
Que eu canto o peito ilustre Lusitano,
A quem Neptuno e Marte obedeceram:
Cesse tudo o que a Musa antígua canta,
Que outro valor mais alto se alevanta.
(...)

Trata-se, naturalmente, de uma invocação às Ninfas do Tejo. Terceira estrofe do Canto I d' "Os Lusíadas" da autoria de Luís Vaz de Camões. Para uma leitura integral da obra clique no seguinte link "Os Lusíadas". Advirto que a obra està em formato PDF, da Biblioteca Nacional Digital.

Para uma informação mais completa da Língua e Cultura Portuguesa, não deixe de visitar a Biblioteca Nacional Digital.

Em jeito de despedida,

(...)
E aqueles, que por obras valerosas
Se vão da lei da morte libertando;
Cantando espalharei por toda parte,
Se a tanto me ajudar engenho e arte.
(...)

Um grande Bem Haja! Grato pela visita.

Amor Vincit Omnia

2007-01-25T11:23:00.000-03:30

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (c. 1572 - 1610)

O amor é uma flor delicada, mas é preciso ter coragem de ir colhê-la à beira de um precipício. (Stendhal)

"Viens à moi, je t'aime"

2006-12-25T15:21:00.000-03:30

Voici ce coeur qui a tant aimé le monde. Son regard nous saisit. "Je suis tendresse et pitié".
Peinture de Malel

Chapelle Sainte-Thérèse de la Fondation d'Auteuil - Les Orphelins Apprentis d'Auteuil

Requiem Mozart KV 626

2006-12-25T10:27:00.000-03:30

(LATIN)

Introitus

Requiem:
(Chœur)
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

(Soprano)
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.

(Chœur)
Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Kyrie:
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

Sequentia

Dies Irae:
Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus.

Tuba Mirum:
(Basse)
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum
Coget omnes ante thronum.

(Tenor)
Mors stupebit et natura
Cum resurget creatura
Judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.

(Contralto)
Judex ergo cum sedebit
Quidquid latet apparebit,
Nil inultum remanebit.

(Soprano)
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Cum vix justus sit securus?

(Tous les solistes)
Cum vix justus sit securus?

Rex Tremendae:
Rex tremendae majestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis.

Recordare:
(Solistes)
Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuae viae,
Ne me perdas illa die.
Quaerens me sedisti lassus,
Redemisti crucem passus,
Tamus labor non sit cassus.
Juste judex ultionis
Donum fac remissionis
Ante diem rationis.
Ingemisco tanquam reus,
Culpa rubet vultus meus,
Supplicanti parce, Deus.
Qui Mariam absolvisti
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Preces meae non sunt dignae,
Sed tu bonus fac benigne,
Ne perenni cremer igne.
Inter oves locum praesta,
Et ab haedis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra.

Confutatis:
Confutatis maledictis
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis.
Oro supplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quasi cinis,
Gere curam mei finis.

Lacrimosa:
Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus,
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona eis requiem.

Offertorium

Domine Jesu:
Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,
libera animas omniurn fidelium defunctorum
de poenis inferni, et de profundo lacu:
libera eas de ore leonis,
ne absorbeat eas tartarus,
ne cadant in obscurum,

(Solistes)
Sed signifer sanctus Michael
repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam,

(Chœur)
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius.

Hostias :
Hostias et preces, tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus:
tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
quarum hodie memoriam facimus:
fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam,
quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius.

Sanctus

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth!
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Osanna in excelsis.

Benedictus

(Solistes)
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.

(Chœur)
Osanna in excelsis.

Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem sempiternam.

Communio

Lux Aeterna:
(Soprano, puis le chœur)
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.

(Chœur)
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.

Homenagem a Màrio Cesariny

2006-11-26T14:55:00.000-03:30

Poema

Em todas as ruas te encontro
em todas as ruas te perco
conheço tão bem o teu corpo
sonhei tanto a tua figura
que é de olhos fechados que eu ando
a limitar a tua altura
e bebo a água e sorvo o ar
que te atravessou a cintura
tanto tão perto tão real
que o meu corpo se transfigura
e toca o seu próprio elemento
num corpo que já não é seu
num rio que desapareceu
onde um braço teu me procura

Em todas as ruas te encontro
em todas as ruas te perco

Ao longo da muralha que habitamos
Há palavras de vida há palavras de morte
Há palavras imensas,que esperam por nós
E outras frágeis,que deixaram de esperar
Há palavras acesas como barcos
E há palavras homens,palavras que guardam
O seu segredo e a sua posição

Entre nós e as palavras,surdamente,
As mãos e as paredes de Elsenor

E há palavras e nocturnas palavras gemidos
Palavras que nos sobem ilegíveis À boca
Palavras diamantes palavras nunca escritas
Palavras impossíveis de escrever
Por não termos connosco cordas de violinos
Nem todo o sangue do mundo nem todo o amplexo do ar
E os braços dos amantes escrevem muito alto
Muito além da azul onde oxidados morrem
Palavras maternais só sombra só soluço
Só espasmos só amor só solidão desfeita

Entre nós e as palavras, os emparedados
E entre nós e as palavras, o nosso dever falar.

Faz-me o favor...

Faz-me o favor de não dizer absolutamente nada!
Supor o que dirá
Tua boca velada
É ouvir-te já.

É ouvir-te melhor
Do que o dirias.
O que és nao vem à flor
Das caras e dos dias.

Tu és melhor - muito melhor!
Do que tu. Não digas nada. Sê
Alma do corpo nu
Que do espelho se vê.

Màrio Cesariny faleceu, esta madrugada, em lisboa.
Para mais informações clicar no seguinte link Diàrio Pùblico

Grato pela visita

Origens da Literatura Portuguesa

2006-10-24T15:31:00.000-02:30

As primeiras manifestações da literatura portuguesa são em verso, datam do séc. XII e estão reunidas em três colectâneas: o Cancioneiro da Ajuda (séc. XIII), o Cancioneiro da Vaticana e o Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional (sendo estes cópias de textos mais tardios).

Cancioneiro da Ajuda: Jogral com viola de arco, rapariga com pandeiro

Os primeiros poetas são João Soares de Paiva e Paio Soares de Taveirós, sendo da autoria deste último a célebre «Cantiga da Garvaia».
Remetendo, nas suas origens, para a tradição oral, esta produção lírica é difundida por trovadores (poetas) e segréis (instrumentistas) e jograis.
Pensa-se que o lirismo medieval sofre a inspiração latina mas se fortalece em poesia popular, estabelecendo as «harjas» moçárabes uma ligação à poesia românica, muito especialmente às cantigas de amigo.

No mundo nom me sei parelha
mentre me for como me vai,
ca ja moiro por vós e ai!
mia senhor branca e vermelha,
queredes que vos retraia
quando vos eu vi em saia.
Mao dia me levantei
que vos entom non vi fea!

Paio Soares de Taveirós, «Cantiga da Garvaia» - (1.ª estrofe)

O Lirismo
O lirismo tem a sua primeira afirmação nacional na poesia trovadoresca, cujos géneros principais são: as cantigas de amor (assimiláveis à poética provençal, na qual o poeta exprime uma forte admiração e submissão em relação à mulher amada), as cantigas de amigo (caracterizadas por veicularem a expressão feminina), as cantigas de escárnio e maldizer (sátiras e motejos), as albas (que remetem para situações de alvorada), as bailias (que remetem para as danças) e as barcarolas (que versam temas marinhos ou relativos às águas dos rios).

O lirismo medieval tem uma poética muito própria, fortemente codificada na metrificação e nos agrupamentos estróficos, e muito distinta da evolução que a poesia vai seguir, sobretudo devido ao renascimento e à imitação dos antigos, que mantém os rigores da modificação poética mas a altera substancialmente.

Senhora, partem tão tristes
meus olhos por vós, meu bem,
que nunca tão tristes vistes
outros nenhuns por ninguém.

Tão tristes, tão saudosos,
tão doentes da partida,
tão cansados, tão chorosos,
da morte mais desejosos
cem mil vezes que da vida.
Partem tão tristes, os tristes,
tão fora de esperar bem
que nunca tão tristes vistes
outros nenhuns por ninguém.

João Roiz de Castelo-Branco, Cancioneiro Geral

Por isso é comum apontar o Cancioneiro Geral (1516), de Garcia de Resende, como uma colectânea de transição, onde autores renascentistas como Bernardim Ribeiro (cultor de metros tradicionais, exprimindo uma visão moderna da experiência amorosa e do desengano) e Sá de Miranda (ligado a uma visão do mundo mais convencional, mas programaticamente, e formalmente, adepto da escola classicista) aparecem a par. Mas o sistema dos géneros modifica-se: cultivam-se as elegias, as odes, as sátiras, as epístolas, os epigramas, assim como as canções (que em muito se aparentam às elegias) e os sonetos, forma recente mas comummente adoptada na literatura europeia ocidental. A obra de Camões constituirá a prova da fecundidade deste sistema.

Mas o Romantismo irá desprender a expressividade poética da contenção formal até então em uso, especialmente com José Anastácio da Cunha e com Garrett, e o Simbolismo, juntamente com o Modernismo, abrirão as portas a uma libertação da linguagem da poesia, apta, a partir daí, a variáveis discursivas que, de Cesário Verde a Camilo Pessanha, Fernando Pessoa e, mais recentemente, Herberto Helder, a habilitam a um diálogo com o mundo em termos de criação simultaneamente implicada e autónoma.

Cabala ou Ensinamentos sobre a alma humana II

2006-10-18T18:55:00.000-02:30

Here it goes an excellent video relative to the Power of Kabbalah. Pay attention to the following explanations for a better understanding. Thanks for visiting my weblog.

Cabala ou Ensinamentos sobre a alma humana I

2006-10-18T10:51:00.000-02:30

O Amplo conhecimento da CABALA teve origem por volta de 5.000 AC, quando foi entregue para a humanidade a grande iluminação cósmica divina. Esta sabedoria foi incorporada por alguns povos em todo o planeta.

A CABALA é um conhecimento revelado não pela busca mental ou intelectual, mas pelo despertar da consciência da essência de todas as coisas. A sua prática propicia a reintegração do homem com a natureza e com a fonte divina, como um cordão umbilical ligando-nos de volta à origem sagrada da união.

Por meio do estudo e de práticas cabalísticas, desobstruimos o canal de recepção e tornamo-nos mais receptivos a tudo o que o UNIVERSO generosamente se dispõe a nos dar: alegria, energia, saúde, amor, prosperidade, o necessàrio para a nossa plena realização pessoal.
A Cabala é um instrumento que liga-nos à terra e ao universo. Deste modo, passamos a manifestar os atributos divinos latentes na vida prática, ampliando assim, o nosso poder pessoal, sabedoria, capacidade amorosa, confiança, entre outros. Sendo a unidade (união com tudo e com todos) o principal propósito da nossa existência, ao entrarmos em contacto com esse conhecimento universal, ocorre uma expansão da consciência e abertura em todas as áreas da vida. A Cabala é um óptimo recurso para esta transformação, permitindo o despertar do ser (essência).

Este processo de abertura ocorre não de um modo màgico mas através do estudo, de treinamentos progressivos e por meio de práticas cabalísticas que incluem não só meditações, mas técnicas milenares importados pelos Cabalistas do norte do continente africano, entre outros conhecimentos.

A conjuntura actual em que vivemos, a nível planetàrio, é de uma forte fixação egocêntrica. Muitos estão fortemente encarcerados em padrões do ego ou do eu inferior. A tarefa da Cabala possibilita, precisamente, por meio de ensinamentos e técnicas, que o indivíduo se desidentifique dos seus pensamentos e acções que o limita para depois voltar a aliar-se à sua origem divina. Dessa aliança, ao ligar-se novamente ao seu ser essencial, o homem passa a reconhecer os verdadeiros anseios da sua alma, a cumprir o seu propósito de vida e a expressar as suas qualidades e potenciais que se propôs a manifestar na Terra antes do seu nascimento.

Assim, com a transformação do ego negativo em consciência espiritual, o homem passa a ser um atractivo positivo, recebendo tudo que é necessário para a realização dos seus propósitos e para a sua felicidade. Ao expressar o ser essencial e ao cumprir o seu destino divino, ele contribui para a harmonização do todo.

A Cabala não tem nenhum envolvimento religioso, ainda que reconheça a importância da sobrevivência da Torah. Mas é importante esclarecer que a cabala não está ligada somente ao misticismo judaico. A sua origem é egípcia. Entretanto, a sua busca é espiritual e não religiosa. O judaísmo conservou parte desta antiga sabedoria, mas há muitos conhecimentos que não foram acoplados à cabala judaica.

A Cabala antecede a qualquer religião ou teologia. É muito mais do que um sistema filosófico intelectualmente estimulante. É uma descrição precisa da natureza aliada à realidade espiritual e física – e é um complemento completo de métodos poderosos e práticos para realizar metas valorosas dentro dessa realidade. De forma simples, a Cabala proporciona-lhe as ferramentas necessàrias para alcançar realização, satisfação, plenitude e, por conseguinte, trazer a Luz do Criador na sua vida. É a maneira de adquirir a paz e a alegria que quer e merece no próprio âmago do seu ser.

Para finalizar, insisto que se retenha desta apresentação sintetizada do que é a Cabala a propria noção do significado da palavra Cabala\KABBALAH: é o processo de desobstrução do canal de recebimento. Cabala significa kibel em Hebreu, ou seja, receber.

E é através da luz que recebemos e todos os seus atributos divinos para que possa ser enraizada\interiorizada na fisicalidade e compartilhada para que possamos viver o paraíso na terra.

A Cabala, ou ciência tradicional dos hebreus, poderia ser chamada de matemática do pensamento humano.

É a álgebra da fé.

Resolve mediante equações todos os problemas da alma, isolando as incógnitas.

Dá às ideias a sensatez e a rigorosa exactidão dos números.

Toda a ciência da Kabalah está contida nas 32 vias e nas 50 portas.

"Deus é a potência ou coroa suprema (Kether),
que repousa sobre a sabedoria imutável (Chochmah)
e a inteligência criativa (Binah)
Nele, estão a bondade (Chesed)
e a justiça (Geburah)
que são o ideal da beleza (Thipheret).
Nele estão o movimento sempre vitorioso (Netzah)
e o grande repouso eterno (Hod).
Sua vontade é uma criação contínua (Jesod)
e seu reino (Malcuth) é a intensidade que povoa o universo.

Grato pela visita!

Para mais informações ver os seguintes links:

Wikipedia: Cabala; Mistérios Antigos; The Kabbalah Center International.

Shalom

Canto Gregoriano: Os Monges Beneditinos do Mosteiro de Santo Domingo de Silos

2006-10-17T16:25:00.000-02:30

Ordem de São Bento

A Ordem de São Bento ou Ordem Beneditina (Latim: Ordo Sancti Benedicti ), sigla OSB) é uma ordem religiosa monacal católica, que se baseia na observância dos preceitos destinados a regular a convivência comunitária, composta no século VI por Bento de Núrsia: a Regula Beneticti. A ordem não foi, porém, fundada por este santo, tendo antes nascido da reunião de vários mosteiros que professavam a sua regra, muito após a sua morte. Os monges desta ordem são conhecidos como beneditinos. (Fonte da imagem: wikipédia)

Canto Gregoriano

O Canto Gregoriano é um tipo de música vocal monódica (só uma melodia), não acompanhada, utilizada pelo ritual da liturgia católica romana, uma das quatro formas do cantochão.

As suas características próprias foram herdadas dos salmos judaicos, assim como dos modos (ou escalas, mais modernamente) gregos, que no século VI foram seleccionados e adaptados por Gregório Magno para serem utilizados nas celebrações religiosas da Igreja Católica.

Somente este tipo de prática musical podia ser utilizada na liturgia ou outros ofícios católicos. Só nos finais da Idade Média é que a polifonia (harmonia obtida com mais de uma linha melódica) começa a ser introduzida nos ofícios da cristandade de então, e a coexistir com a prática do canto gregoriano. (Fonte da ilustração: wikipédia)

A importância do texto
Desde seu surgimento que a música cristã foi uma oração cantada, que devia realizar-se não de forma puramente material, mas com devoção ou, como dizia Paulo (Apóstolo): "cantando a Deus em vosso coração". O texto era, pois, a razão de ser do Canto Gregoriano. Na verdade, o canto do texto se baseia no princípio - segundo Santo Agostinho - de que "quem canta ora duas vezes".

O canto Gregoriano jamais poderá ser entendido sem o texto, o qual tem primazia sobre a melodia, e é quem dá sentido a esta. Por isso, ao interpretá-lo, os cantores devem haver compreendido bem o sentido dele. Em conseqüência, deve-se evitar qualquer impostação de voz de tipo operístico, em que se busca o destaque do intérprete.

Deste canto procedem os modos gregorianos, que dão base à música ocidental. Deles vêm os modos maior e menor, e outros cinco, menos conhecidos.

Para escutar uma partitura de canto gregoriano, clicar sobre o icone. (Fonte: Mosteiro de Santo Domingo de Silos).

Verbum Caro Factum Est

Adoro Lisboa / I Love Lisbon

2006-10-12T16:20:00.000-02:30

Lisboa tem histórias de reis,
De mares e de selvas
Lisboa tem histórias de hotéis,
De espiões e de guerras
Lisboa tem lendas de heróis,
Princesas, donzelas
Lisboa tem lendas do cais,
Do fado e navalhas;

Lisboa tem a tradição,
Dos bairros antigos
Vinho e sardinhas no verão
à beira do rio
Lisboa tem os rés-do-chão
E as altas mansardas
E há que descer e subir
Por estreitas escadas

Adoro Lisboa,
Eu quero-lhe bem,
Gosto de ver as gaivotas nos céus de Belém.

Adoro Lisboa,
E as histórias que tem
E sei que há muita gente
Que adora também

Madredeus
(Written by: Pedro Ayres Magalhães E Fernando Júdice)

From the album "Faluas Do Tejo"

Và para fora cà dentro: Tabuaço

2006-10-11T10:20:00.000-02:30

O povoado primitivo de Tabuaço, de origem castreja, confinava-se a um bairro que nasceu e cresceu à volta da ermida em honra de S. Vicente erigida pela comunidade cristã suevo-visigótica.

Como paróquia formar-se-á mais tarde. No século XIV, o cura de Tabuaço era nomeado pelo reitor da colegiada de Barcos. Esta dependência mantém-se até meados do século XVII, época, segundo o Dr. Gonçalves da Costa, "em que os párocos subiram à categoria de curas confirmados e depois de vigários".

Actualmente é a paróquia com mais população. Tabuaço é Vila e sede de Concelho.

A história de uma comunidade faz-se caminhando, ao longo dos anos, com pessoas e com grupos, com acontecimentos e iniciativas.

Escreve-se pelos párocos que vai tendo, os de ontem e os de hoje.

Todos, cada um à sua maneira, marcaram a vida da comunidade e da vila de Tabuaço, alguns mais polémicos (sobretudo aquando da mudança de regime), outros mais espirituais, uns pregadores, outros comprometidos com os doentes e com os pobres. Veja a breve cronologia que lhe apresentamos, com um ou outro dado curioso. Foi elaborada sobretudo a partir dos livros Paroquiais de Assentos.

Escreve-se pelo património que foi construindo e conservando, deixando as marcas do tempo, da cultura e da religiosidade de muitas gerações.

Abundantes vestígios arqueológicos, antigos monumentos e belas casas solarengas são motivos de interesse para quem visita o concelho de Tabuaço, cuja principal riqueza reside, porém, no património natural, caracterizado pelo contraste entre a serra e o vale, entre o verde das vinhas em socalcos e o azul profundo do rio Távora.

Pelourinhos como os de Arcos, Granja do Tedo, Sendim e Valença do Douro, assim como as igrejas românicas de São Pedro das Águias, Nossa Senhora de Sabrosa e Barcos (século XII), convidam o visitante a descobrir a herança histórica e religiosa do concelho.

A riqueza arqueológica é visível nas ruínas de povoados fortificados (como os de Longa, Sabroso ou São Mamede), no santuário rupestre de Cabeço das Pombas ou nas necrópoles de Passo Frio e de Sendim, entre muitos outros vestígios descobertos na zona.

O Concelho oferece uma gastronomia de saberes e sabores tradicionais, cuja principal especialidade é o afamado cabrito recheado com arroz de forno, mas há também um óptimo presunto e uma deliciosa bôla de carne e peixinhos do rio em molho de escabeche. São também muito apreciados os doces de castanhas e o bolo-rei de Tabuaço.

As encostas desta região do Douro produzem, naturalmente, vinho fino de qualidade e bons vinhos de mesa.

Grato pela visita!

Tabuaço e a Ordem de Cister

2006-10-07T10:36:00.000-02:30

As raízes da vila de Tabuaço remontam a tempos mais velhos do que a própria nacionalidade portuguesa. Durante a Pré-História, vários foram os povos que aqui se instalaram e desenvolveram a sua acção, visível quer em ruínas de abrigos e castros, quer em vestígios de instrumentos de trabalho, como peças de cerâmica ou primitivos lagares e lagaretas de azeite e vinho. Durante a Idade Média, o antigo couto de S. Pedro das Águias acolheu uma pequena comunidade de monges da ordem de Cister.

Para mais informações clique por favor Tabuaço e a Ordem de Cister

Fotos gentilmente cedidas.

Grato pela visita!

A Ordem de Cister

2006-10-07T10:32:00.000-02:30

A Ordem de Cister (Ordo cisterciensis, O. Cist.) é uma ordem monástica católica, fundada em 1098 por Robert de Molesme, seguindo a regra beneditina; os seus monges são conhecidos como monges brancos devido à cor do seu hábito.

Os Cistercienses em Portugal

A Ordem estabeleceu-se em Portugal pela primeira vez em Tarouca em 1144, antigo mosteiro beneditino. Todos os mosteiros cistercienses do século XII mudaram de observância, só Alcobaça foi fundado de novo. Durante o século XII as fundações mais importantes e numerosas são as das monjas: Lorvão, Celas e Arouca, protegidas pelas infantas-rainhas Teresa, Sancha e Mafalda, e Odivelas todas dependentes de Alcobaça. Durante este período não houve em Portugal ordem mais poderosa, devido sobretudo à riqueza de Alcobaça que foi também o centro artístico e intelectual da Ordem.

As tentativas de reforma renovaram-se no princípio do século XVI, durante o qual viveu Fr. João Claro e se fundaram os mosteiros femininos de Tavira e Portalegre e o Colégio do Espírito Santo em Coimbra e se chamaram beneditinos de Monserrate para reformar Alcobaça. A reforma não conseguiu promover a separação de Alcobaça, favorecida pelo cardeal D. Afonso e o cardeal D. Henrique. Os cistercienses mostraram então grande vitalidade fundando vários mosteiros, para monges: o Colégio da Conceição, e o Mosteiro do Desterro em Lisboa e para monjas, Mocambo em Lisboa e Tabosa deram grande realce aos estudos históricos, onde se notabilizaram todos os autores da Monarchia Lusitana. No século XVIII entram em decadência e são extintos em 1834, seguindo-se a posterior extinção dos mosteiros femininos.

O pensamento de Joaquim de Fiore, um cisterciense calabrês e filósofo milenarista, teve profundo impacto em Portugal, estando na origem do culto ao Divino Espírito Santo, ainda hoje bem presente nos Açores e nas zonas de expansão açoriana nas Américas, e influindo no pensamento do padre António Vieira (o Quinto Império) e dando uma base filosófica ao sebastianismo.

A existência de um curso de água ou um lago é condição essencial para a fixação desta ordem. Por isso não é de estranhar que muitos dos conventos cistercienses tenha nomes associados à água, tais como Fontaine-Guérard, Fontenay, Fontenelle em França ou Fountain em Inglaterra.

Nota para reflexão: A influência de Cister na espiritualidade e na cultura em Portugal.

A Arquitectura Cisterciense

Fixada em Portugal desde o século XII, a Ordem de Cister acompanhou a formação do território e a afirmação política da primeira dinastia. Estendendo progressivamente os seus mosteiros nas regiões centro e norte graças à especial protecção régia, os monges brancos contribuíram de forma decisiva para a colonização e desenvolvimento das vastas áreas que ocuparam, aplicando técnicas agrícolas inovadoras e intensivas e, sobretudo, uma grande disciplina de organização do espaço.

Os conjuntos monásticos, que seguiam métodos de implantação e distribuição espacial muito semelhantes, revelam também partidos arquitectónicos e construtivos afins, o que lhes confere um inegável ar de família. Muitos deles conservam, ainda hoje, importantes espólios artísticos que incluem azulejaria e pintura, talha dourada, ourivesaria, escultura e outros testemunhos da evolução da arte portuguesa ao longo dos últimos séculos.

É, no entanto, a privilegiada relação com a paisagem que os torna, aos nossos olhos, singulares. Se os mosteiros de Cister conseguiram transformar as envolventes, mercê do desbravamento de terras e da planificação de engenhosos sistemas hidráulicos, com encanamento e encaminhamento de caudais, construção de enormes condutas subterrâneas ou regularização das margens de rios e ribeiras, eles fazem actualmente parte integrante de unidades paisagísticas mais vastas, às quais dão um valor acrescido que importa preservar e valorizar.

As Abadias cistercienses ficam isoladas das cidades, caracterizadas pela racionalidade na articulação dos espaços e despojamento de elementos decorativos. Usam-se soluções locais com materiais disponíveis e tradições culturais existentes. O seu revestimento é branco.

A planta padrão respondia às exigências de funcionalidade e economia de espaço e de movimento abolindo o supérfluo. A planta articula a vida e as obrigações distintas de monges, noviços e conversos.

A igreja situa-se no ponto mais alto e estava do lado norte com o claustro imediatamente a sul. A igreja adapta-se à rectangularidade global da composição com cabeceira recta (na Batalha já é redonda) com capelas no transepto. No braço sul uma escada comunica com o dormitório. A igreja divide-se a meio entre monges e conversos. Não tinha uma fachada monumental nem torres a acentuar a massa exterior. A planta baseia-se na relação 1:2. Há uma simplificação da tipologia e exibição da própria arquitectura, a decoração centra-se nos capitéis. As naves laterais surgem quase à mesma altura da central.

O refeitório, mais a sul, sempre com a fonte em frente articula-se com o claustro. A cozinha,a oeste, divide o refeitório dos monges e o dos conversos . Cozinha e refeitório voltam-se para o curso de água.

No lado Este alinham-se a sala do capítulo e a sala comunitária. O dormitório ocupava longitudinalmente todo o piso superior. O complexo do edifício era rectangular marcado por contrafotes. Não havia casas de banho nem uma residência independente para o Abade. Os dormitórios não possuem celas individuais.

Há dois tipos de claustro: o claustro do silêncio e claustros de carácter agrícola. O mosteiro cresce claustro, a claustro.

Planta tipo cisterciense

1- Igreja
2- Porta do cemitério
3- Coro dos conversos
4- Sacristia
5- Claustro
6- Fonte
7- Sala Capitular
8- Dormitório dos monges
9- Dormitório dos noviços
10- Latrinas
11- Caldarium
12- Refeitório
13- Cozinha
14- Refeitório dos conversos

Le devoir d'un Monarque

2006-08-20T17:57:00.000-02:30

Le devoir d'un monarque
Uploaded by pvlatortue

Psychography

2006-07-19T10:39:00.000-02:30

The poet is a faker
Who's so good at his act
He even fakes the pain
Of pain he feels in fact.

Fernando Pessoa

Mar Português

2006-07-19T10:00:00.000-02:30

Ó mar salgado, quanto do teu sal
São lágrimas de Portugal!
Por te cruzarmos, quantas mães choraram,
Quantos filhos em vão rezaram!
Quantas noivas ficaram por casar
Para que fosses nosso, ó mar!

Valeu a pena? Tudo vale a pena
Se a alma não é pequena.
Quem quer passar além do Bojador
Tem que passar além da dor.
Deus ao mar o perigo e o abismo deu,
Mas nele é que espelhou o céu.

Fernando Pessoa, in "Mensagem"

La Flamme de la Liberté

2006-07-16T09:44:00.000-02:30

Cette statue est la réplique exacte de la flamme de la statue de la liberté à New York. Elle a été offerte au peuple français par des donateurs du monde entier en symbole de l'amitié franco-américaine.
Située juste au-dessus de l'entrée du tunnel de l'Alma où la Princesse Diana trouva la mort en août 1997, cette statue a été transformée par les visiteurs en un monument à sa mémoire, au pied duquel ils déposent fleurs et messages.

Paris by night

2006-07-16T09:27:00.000-02:30

See more awesome pictures at the following Sight for Sore Eyes. Achingly beautiful!

Portuguese Language

2006-06-20T16:43:00.001-02:30

Portuguese (português) is an Indo-European language of the Romance branch. It originated in what is today Galicia (in Spain) and northern Portugal. It is the official language of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe, co-official with Chinese in the Chinese S.A.R. of Macau, and co-official with Tetum in East Timor.

Portuguese is ranked sixth among the world's languages in number of native speakers (over 200 million), and first in South America (186 million, over 51% of the population). It is also a major lingua franca in Africa. It spread worldwide in the 15th and 16th century as Portugal set up a vast colonial and commercial empire (1415–1999), spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macau in China. In that colonial period, many Portuguese creoles appeared around the world, especially in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Portuguese is often nicknamed The language of Camões, after the author of the Portuguese national epic The Lusiads; The last flower of Latium (Olavo Bilac); and The sweet language by Cervantes.

Geographic distribution
Geographic distribution of Portuguese

Portuguese is the first language in Angola, Brazil, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe, and the most widely used language in Mozambique. It is also one of the official languages of East Timor (with Tetum) and of the Chinese S.A.R. of Macau (with Chinese). It is widely spoken, but not official, in Andorra, Luxembourg, Namibia and Paraguay. Portuguese Creoles are the mother tongue of Cape Verde and part of Guinea-Bissau's population. In Cape Verde most also speak standard Portuguese and have a native level language usage.

Large Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities exist in many cities around the world, including Montreal and Toronto in Canada; Paris in France; Asunción in Paraguay; and Boston, New Bedford, Cape Cod, Fall River, Honolulu, Houston, Newark, New York City, Orlando, Miami, Providence, Sacramento in the United States; Buenos Aires in Argentina, Uruguay, and in Japan. Other countries where speakers can be found include in Andorra, Belgium, Bermuda, Switzerland and some communities in India such as Goa. Portuguese is spoken by about 187 million people in South America, 17 million in Africa, 12 million in Europe, 2 million in North America and 610,000 in Asia.
Countries and regions where Portuguese has official status.

The CPLP or Community of Portuguese Language Countries is an international organization consisting of the eight independent countries which have Portuguese as an official language. Portuguese is also an official language of the European Union, Mercosul and the African Union (one of the working languages) and one of the official languages of other organizations. The Portuguese language is gaining popularity in Africa, Asia, and South America as a second language for study.

Portuguese is with Spanish the fastest growing western language, and, following estimates by UNESCO it is the language with the higher potentiality of growth as an international communication language in Africa (south) and South America. The Portuguese speaking African countries are expected to have a combined population of 83 million by 2050. After Brazil signed into the economic market of Mercosul with other South America nations, such as Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, there has been an increase in curiosity towards study of Portuguese language in those South American countries. The demographic weight of Brazil in the continent will continue to strengthen the presence of Portuguese language in the region.

Estação da Luz, site of the museum, in São Paulo, Brazil.

The language is also starting to gain popularity in Asia, mostly due to East Timor's boost in the number of speakers in the last five years, and Macau is becoming the Chinese center for learning Portuguese, where in early 21st century, the language use was in decline, today it is growing as it became a language for opportunity due to increased Chinese diplomatic and financial ties with the Portuguese speaking countries.

In March of 2006, the Museum of the Portuguese Language, an interactive museum about the Portuguese language was founded in São Paulo, Brazil, the city with the largest number of Portuguese speakers in the world.
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Dialects
Portuguese dialects

There are two main groups of dialects, those of Brazil and those of the Old World. For historical reasons, the dialects of Africa and Asia are generally closer to those of Portugal than the Brazilian dialects, although in some aspects of their phonology, especially the pronunciation of unstressed vowels, they resemble Brazilian Portuguese more than European Portuguese. They have not been studied as exhaustively as European and Brazilian Portuguese. In various parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, Portuguese creoles are spoken, but they are independent languages which should not be confused with Portuguese itself.

Within the two major varieties of Portuguese, most differences between dialects concern pronunciation and vocabulary. Below are some examples:

Words for bus

Angola & Mozambique: machimbombo
Brazil: ônibus
Portugal: autocarro

Words for slum quarter

Angola: musseque
Brazil: favela
Portugal: bairro de lata or ilha

slang terms for to go away

Angola: bazar - from Kimbundu kubaza - to break, leave with rush
Brazil: vazar - from Portuguese "to leak"
Portugal: bazar - from Kimbundu kubaza - to break, leave with rush

Between Brazilian Portuguese, particularly in its most informal varieties, and European Portuguese, there can be considerable differences in grammar, as well. The most prominent ones concern the placement of clitic pronouns, and the use of subject pronouns as objects in the third person. Non-standard inflections are also common in colloquial Brazilian Portuguese.
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Classification and related languages

Portuguese belongs to the West Iberian group of the Romance languages, and it has special ties with the following members of this group, for various reasons:

* Galician and the Fala, its closest relatives. See below.
* Spanish, the major language closest to Portuguese. See also Differences between Spanish and Portuguese.
* Mirandese, another West Iberian language spoken in Portugal.
* Judeo-Portuguese and Judeo-Spanish, languages spoken by Sephardic Jews, which remained close to Portuguese and Spanish.

Latin and other Romance languages

A distinctive feature of Portuguese is that it preserved the stressed vowels of Vulgar Latin, which other Romance languages diphthongized; cf. Fr. pierre, Sp. piedra, Port. pedra, from Lat. petra; It. fuoco, Sp. fuego, Port. fogo, from Lat. focum. Another characteristic of early Portuguese was the loss of intervocalic l and n, followed by the merger of the two surrounding vowels, or by the insertion of an epenthetic vowel between them: cf. Lat. salire, tenere, catena, Sp. salir, tener, cadena, Port. sair, ter, cadeia.

When the elided consonant was n, it often nasalized the preceding vowel: cf. Lat. manum, rana, bonum, Port. mão, rãa (now rã), bõo (now bom). This process was the source of most of the nasal diphthongs which are typical of Portuguese. In particular, the Latin endings -ane-, -anu- and -one- became -ão in most cases: cf. Lat. canem, germanum, rationem with Modern Port. cão, irmão, razão, and their plurals cães, irmãos, razões.

See Portuguese Vocabulary: From Latin to Portuguese, for other sound changes.

In spite of the obvious lexical and grammatical similarities between Portuguese and other Romance languages outside the West Iberian branch, it is not mutually intelligible with them to any practical extent. Portuguese speakers will usually need some formal study of basic grammar and vocabulary, before being able to understand even the simplest sentences in those languages (and vice-versa):

Ela fecha sempre a janela antes de jantar. (Portuguese)
Ella cierra siempre la ventana antes de cenar. (Spanish)
Lei chiude sempre la finestra prima di cenare. (Italian)
Ella tanca sempre la finestra abans de dinar. (Catalan)
Elle ferme toujours la fenêtre avant de dîner. (French)
Ea închide întodeauna fereastra înainte de a cina. (Romanian)
"She always shuts the window before dining."

Note that some of the lexical divergence above actually comes from different Romance languages using the same root word with different semantic values. Portuguese for example has the word fresta, which is a cognate of French fenêtre or Italian finestra, but now means "slit" as opposed to "window". Likewise, Portuguese also has the word cear, a cognate of Italian cenare and Spanish cenar, but uses it in the sense of "to have a late supper", while the most frequent word meaning "to dine" is actually jantar.
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Galician and the Fala

The closest language to Portuguese is Galician, spoken in the autonomous community of Galicia (Northwest Spain). They were at one time a single language, known today as Galician-Portuguese, but since the political separation of Portugal from Galicia they have diverged somewhat. Galician has kept only the seven oral vowels of medieval Galician-Portuguese; it has no central vowels or nasal vowels. Around the Renaissance, its consonants went through significant changes which closely paralleled the evolution of the Spanish consonants. After many centuries of close contact between the two languages, Galician has also adopted many loan words from Spanish, and some calques of Spanish syntax. Nevertheless, the core vocabulary and grammar of Galician are still noticeably closer to Portuguese than to Spanish. In particular, it uses the future subjunctive, the personal infinitive, and the synthetic pluperfect (see Grammar of Portuguese). Mutual intelligibility is good between Galicians and northern Portuguese, but poorer between Galicians and speakers of central European Portuguese.

The linguistic status of Galician with respect to Portuguese is controversial. Some authors, such as Lindley Cintra, consider that they are still dialects of a common language, in spite of superficial differences in phonology and vocabulary. Other authors argue that they have become separate languages due to major differences in phonetics and vocabulary usage, and, to a lesser extent, morphology and syntax. The official position of the Galician Language Institute is that Galician and Portuguese should be considered independent languages. The standard orthography takes advantage of the divergent features of the phonology of Galician to emphasize its differences from Portuguese, insisting on strictly phonetic spelling, and rejecting Portuguese graphic conventions such as circumflex and grave accents, tildes on vowels, or graphemes like nh, lh, j, etc. in favour of ñ, ll, x, and so on. The sociolinguistic and linguistic situation is reminiscent of the relations between Romanian and Moldovan, between Catalan and Occitan, or between Catalan and Valencian.

The Fala language is another descendant of Galician-Portuguese, spoken by a small number of people in the Spanish towns of Valverdi du Fresnu, As Ellas and Sa Martín de Trebellu (autonomous community of Extremadura, near the border with Portugal).

Derived languages
Portuguese creole

Beginning in the 16th century, the extensive contacts between Portuguese travelers and settlers, African slaves, and local populations led to the appearance of many pidgins with varying amounts of Portuguese influence. As these pidgins became the mother tongue of succeeding generations, they evolved into fully fledged creole languages, which remained in use in many parts of Asia and Africa until the 18th century.

Some Portuguese-based or Portuguese-influenced creoles are still spoken today, by over 3 million people worldwide, especially people of partial Portuguese ancestry.

Influence on other languages

Portuguese has lent words to many other languages, such as Indonesian, Malay, Konkani, Tetum, Xitsonga, and Japanese (see Japanese words from Portuguese), and to several creole languages, such as Lanc-Patuá (spoken in northern Brazil - now extinct) and Sranang Tongo (spoken in Suriname).

It influenced the língua brasílica, a Tupi-Guarani language which was the most widely spoken in Brazil until the 18th century, and it had a strong influence on the language spoken around Sikka in Flores Island, Indonesia. In nearby Larantuka, Portuguese is used for prayers in the Tuan Ma ritual.

The Nippo Jisho, a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary written in 1603, was a product of Jesuit missionary activity in Japan. The Dictionarium Anamiticum, Lusitanum et Latinum (Annamite-Portuguese-Latin dictionary) of Alexandre de Rhodes (1651), building on the work of earlier Portuguese missionaries, introduced Quốc ngữ, the modern orthography of Vietnamese, which is based on the orthography of 17th-century Portuguese.

See also List of English words of Portuguese origin.

History
History of Portuguese

Portuguese developed in the Western Iberian Peninsula from Latin brought there by Roman soldiers and colonists starting in the 3rd century BC. It began to diverge from other Romance languages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the barbarian invasions in the 5th century, and started to be used in written documents around the 9th century. By the 15th century it had become a mature language with a rich literature. In all aspects — phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntax — Portuguese is essentially the result of an organic evolution of Vulgar Latin, with fairly minor influences from other languages.

Arriving in the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC, the Romans brought with them the Latin language, from which all Romance languages descend. In the 2nd century BC, southern Lusitania was already Romanized. Strabo, a 1st century Greek geographer, remarks in his Geographia "encyclopedia": "they have adopted the Roman customs, and they no longer remember their own language." The language was spread by arriving Roman soldiers, settlers and merchants, who built Roman cities mostly near the settlements of previous civilizations.

Between 409 A.D. and 711, as the Roman Empire collapsed in Western Europe, the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Germanic peoples (Migration Period). The newcomers, mainly Suevi and Visigoths, quickly adopted late Roman culture and the Vulgar Latin dialects of the peninsula. After the Moorish invasion of 711, Arabic became the administrative language in the conquered regions, but most of the population continued to speak a form of Romance commonly known as Mozarabic. The influence exerted by Arabic on the Romance dialects spoken in the Christian kingdoms of the north was small, affecting mainly their lexicon.

Medieval
Portuguese poetry

Das que vejo
non desejo
outra senhor se vós non,
e desejo
tan sobejo,
mataria um leon,
senhor do meu coraçon:
fin roseta,
bela sobre toda fror,
fin roseta,
non me meta
en tal coita voss'amor!
João de Lobeira
(1270?–1330?)

The earliest surviving records of a distinctively Portuguese language are 9th century administrative documents, still interspersed with many Latin phrases. Today this phase is known as Proto-Portuguese (between the 9th and the 12th century). Portugal was formally recognized as an independent nation by the Kingdom of Leon in 1143, with Afonso Henriques as king. In the first period of Old Portuguese - Portuguese-Galician Period (from the 12th to the 14th century) - the language gradually came into general use. Previously it had been the language of preference for lyric poetry in Christian Iberia, much like Provençal was the language of the poetry of the troubadors. In 1290, king Denis created the first Portuguese University in Lisbon (the Estudo Geral) and decreed that Portuguese, then simply called the "Vulgar language" should be known as the Portuguese language and used officially.

In the second period of Old Portuguese, from the 14th to the 16th century, with the Portuguese discoveries, the language was taken to many regions of Asia, Africa and the Americas (nowadays, the great majority of Portuguese speakers live in Brazil, in South America). By the 16th century it had become a lingua franca in Asia and Africa, used not only for colonial administration and trade but also for communication between local officials and Europeans of all nationalities. Its spread was helped by mixed marriages between Portuguese and local people, and by its association with Catholic missionary efforts, which led to its being named cristão ("Christian") in many parts of Asia. The language continued to be popular in parts of Asia until the 19th century. Some Portuguese-speaking Christian communities in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Indonesia preserved their language even after they were isolated from Portugal.

The end of the Old Portuguese period was marked by the publication of the Cancioneiro Geral de Garcia de Resende, in 1516. The early times of Modern Portuguese, which spans from the 16th century to present day, were characterized by an increase in the number of erudite words borrowed from Classical Latin and Classical Greek during the Renaissance, which greatly enriched the lexicon.

Portuguese vocabulary

Almost 90%[citation needed] of the lexicon of Portuguese is derived from Latin. Nevertheless, thanks to the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, and to the participation of Portugal in the Age of Discovery, it has adopted loanwords from all over the world.

Very few Portuguese words can be traced to the pre-Roman inhabitants of Portugal, which included the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Iberians, Lusitanians, and Celts. Some notable examples are abóbora "pumpkin" and bezerro "year-old calf", from Iberian languages; cerveja "beer", from Celtic; saco "bag", from Phoenician; and cachorro "dog, puppy", from Basque.

In the 5th century the Iberian Peninsula (the former Roman region of Hispania) was conquered by the Suevi, Visigoths and Alans, Germanic tribes who had been displaced from Central Europe by the Huns. As they adopted the Roman civilization and language, however, these people contributed only a few words to the lexicon, mostly related to warfare — such as espora "spur", estaca "stake", and guerra "war", from Gothic *spaúra, *stakka, and *wirro, respectively.

Between the 9th and the 15th centuries Portuguese acquired about 1000 words from Arabic by influence of Moorish Iberia. They are often recognizable by the initial Arabic article a(l)-, and include many common words such as aldeia "village" from التجارية aldaya, alface "lettuce" from الخس alkhass, armazém "warehouse" from المخزن almahazan, and azeite "olive oil" from زيت azzait. From Arabic came also the grammatically peculiar word oxalá "God willing". The name of the Portuguese town of Fátima, where Virgin Mary is said to have appeared, is originally an Arabic name, the name of Muhammad’s daughter.

Starting in the 15th century, the Portuguese maritime explorations led to the introduction of many loanwords from Asian languages. For instance, catana "cutlass" from Japanese katana; corja "rabble" from Malay kórchchu; and chá "tea" from Cantonese cha.

From the 16th to the 19th century, the role of Portugal as intermediary in the Atlantic slave trade, with the establishment of large Portuguese colonies in Angola, Mozambique, and Brazil, Portuguese got several words of African and Amerind origin, especially names for most of the animals and plants found in those territories. While those terms are mostly used in the former colonies, many became current in European Portuguese as well. From Kimbundu, for example, came kifumate → cafuné "head caress", kusula → caçula "youngest child", marimbondo "wasp", and kubungula → bungular "to dance like a wizard".

From South America came batata "potato", from Taino; ananás and abacaxi, from Tupi-Guarani naná and Tupi ibá cati, respectively (two species of pineapple), and tucano "toucan" from Guarani tucan.

Finally, it has received a steady influx of loanwords from other European languages. For example, melena "hair lock", fiambre "ham", and castelhano "Castilian", from Spanish; colchete "crochet", paletó "jacket", batom "lipstick", and filé or filete "steak", from French crochet, paletot, bâton, filet; macarrão "pasta", piloto "pilot", carroça "carriage", and barraca "barrack", from Italian maccherone, pilotto, carrozza, barracca; and bife "steak", futebol, revólver, estoque, folclore, from English football, beef, revolver, stock, folklore.

Sounds
Portuguese phonology

There is a maximum of 9 vowels and 19 consonants, though some varieties of the language have fewer phonemes (Brazilian Portuguese has only 7 oral vowels). Five of the vowels have nasal allophones. There are also 10 oral diphthongs, and 5 nasal diphthongs.

Vowels
Chart of monophthongs of the Portuguese of Lisbon
Chart of monophthongs of the Portuguese of Lisbon

To the seven vowels of Vulgar Latin European Portuguese has added two near central vowels, one of which tends to be elided in rapid speech, like the e caduc of French. The five nasal vowels can be regarded as allophones of oral vowels, found in special environments. The high vowels /e o/ and the low vowels /ɛ ɔ/ are four distinct phonemes, and they alternate in various forms of apophony. Like Catalan, Portuguese uses vowel quality to contrast stressed syllables with unstressed syllables: isolated vowels tend to be raised, and in some cases centralized, when unstressed. Nasal diphthongs exist, occurring mostly at the end of words.

Consonants
Consonant phonemes of Portuguese
Bilabial Labio-
dental Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular
Plosives p b t d k g
Nasals m n ɲ
Fricatives f v s z ʃ ʒ ʁ
Flaps ɾ
Laterals l ʎ

Whereas its vowel phonology can be considered innovative, the consonant inventory of Portuguese is fairly conservative. The medieval affricates /ts/, /dz/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ merged with the fricatives /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, respectively, but not with each other, and there were no other significant changes to the consonant phonemes since then. However, some remarkable allophones and dialectal variants have appeared, among which:

* In most of Brazil, /t/ and /d/ have the affricate allophones [tʃ] and [dʒ], respectively, before /i/. (Quebec French has a similar phenomenon, with alveolar affricates instead of postalveolars.)

* At the end of a syllable, the phoneme /l/ has the velarized allophone [ɫ] in European Portuguese, like in the Received Pronunciation of English. Brazilian Portuguese has the allophone [w] instead (L-vocalization).

* In many parts of Brazil and Angola, /ɲ/ is pronounced as a nasal glide [j̃] which nasalizes the vowel before it, so that for instance /'niɲu/ is pronounced ['nĩj̃u].

* There is great dialectal variation in the value of the rhotic phonemes /ʁ/ and /ɾ/. See Guttural R in Portuguese, for details.

* In some dialects, the alveolar sibilant /s/ has postalveolar allophones [ʃ], [ʒ], at the end of syllables. (In Judeo-Spanish, /s/ has the allophone [ʃ] at the end of syllables, too.)

Stress

Primary stress may fall on any of the three final syllables of a word, but mostly on the last two. There is a partial correlation between the position of the stress and the final vowel; for example, the final syllable is usually stressed when it contains a nasal phoneme, a diphthong, or a close vowel. The orthography of Portuguese takes advantage of this correlation to minimize the number of diacritics.

Due to the phonetic changes that often affect unstressed vowels, pure lexical stress is less common in Portuguese than in related languages like Spanish, but there is still a significant number of examples of it:

dúvida [ˈduvidɐ] "doubt" (noun) vs. duvida [duˈvidɐ] "he doubts"
falaram [faˈlaɾɐ̃ũ] "they spoke" vs. falarão [falaˈɾɐ̃ũ] "they will speak" (in Brazilian Portuguese)
ouve ['ovi] "he hears" vs. ouvi [o'vi] "I heard" (in Brazilian Portuguese)
túnel ['tunɛɫ] "tunnel" vs. tonel [tu'nɛɫ] "wine cask" (in European Portuguese)

Prosody

Tone is not lexically significant in Portuguese, but phrase- and sentence-level tone are important. There are of six dynamic tone patterns that affect entire phrases, which indicate the mood and intention of the speaker such as implication, emphasis, reservation, etc. As in most Romance languages, interrogation is expressed mainly by sharply raising the tone at the end of the sentence.

Grammar
Portuguese grammar

The grammar of Portuguese has much in common with that of various other Romance languages, such as the existence of two copular verbs, two grammatical genders, and a large number of verb conjugations. It has also a few grammatical peculiarities not found in most other Romance languages, of which the most striking are the future subjunctive, the personal infinitive, the synthetic pluperfect, and the present perfect.

Future subjunctive

The future subjunctive tense, developed by medieval Ibero-Romance, is now old-fashioned in Spanish, but remains in vernacular use in Portuguese. It appears in dependent clauses that denote a condition which must be fulfilled in the future, so that the independent clause will occur. Other languages normally employ the present tense under the same circumstances:

Se for [future subjunctive] eleito presidente, mudarei a lei.
"If I am elected president, I will change the law."

Quando fores [future subjunctive] mais velho, vais entender.
"When you are older, you will understand."

Personal infinitive

It is possible for a verb in the infinitive to agree with its subject in person and number, often showing who is supposed to perform a certain act; cf. Está na hora de voltares "It is time (for you) to return.", Está na hora de voltarmos "It is time (for us) to return." This is called the personal infinitive, and no other Romance language has one, besides Galician and Sardinian[citation needed]; perhaps for this reason, infinitive clauses replace subjunctive clauses more often in Portuguese than in other Romance languages.

Present perfect

Many Romance languages possess a present perfect tense, but the Portuguese present perfect has a unique, iterative sense, denoting an action or a series of actions which have begun in the past and are expected to continue into the future. For instance, the meaning of Tenho tentado falar com ela may be closer to "I have been trying to talk to her" than to "I have tried to talk to her", depending on the context, and the correct translation of the question "Have you heard the latest news?" is Ouviu a última notícia?, not *Tem ouvido a última notícia?

Writing system
Orthography of Portuguese

Portuguese is written with the Latin alphabet, and makes use of the acute accent, the circumflex accent, the grave accent, the tilde, and the cedilla, to denote stress, vowel height, nasalization, and other sound changes. Brazilian Portuguese also uses the diaeresis mark. Accented letters and digraphs are not counted as separate characters.

Brazilian vs. European orthography

There are some differences between the orthographies of Brazil and other Portuguese language countries. One of the most pervasive is the use of acute accents in the European orthography in many words such as sinónimo, where the Brazilian orthography has a circumflex accent, sinônimo. Another important difference is that Brazilian spelling often lacks p or c before c, ç, or t, where the European orthography has them; e.g. ótimo vs. óptimo, or fato vs. facto. Some of these spelling differences reflect differences in the pronunciation of the words, but others are merely graphic.

Examples

Excerpt from «The Lusiads» (I, 33)

Translation Original IPA

Against him stood beautiful Venus Sustentava contra ele Vénus bela, suʃtẽˈtavɐ ˈkõtɾɐ ˈelɨ ˈvɛnuʒ ˈbɛlɐ

Affectionate for the Lusitanian people, Afeiçoada à gente Lusitana, ɐfɐi̯su̯ˈaða ˈʒẽtɨ luziˈtɐnɐ
For all the qualities she saw in them, Por quantas qualidades via nela puɾ ˈku̯ɐ̃tɐʃ ku̯ɐliˈðaðɨʒ ˈviɐ ˈnɛlɐ
Of her beloved old Roman folk, Da antiga tão amada sua Romana; dãˈtigɐ tɐ̃ũ ̯ ɐˈmaðɐ ˈsuɐ ʁuˈmɐnɐ
In the strong hearts, in the great star, Nos fortes corações, na grande estrela, nuʃ ˈfɔɾtɨʃ kuɾɐˈsõĩ ̯ʃ nɐ ˈgɾɐ̃dɨʃˈtɾelɐ
That they had shown in the lands of Tangiers, Que mostraram na terra Tingitana, kɨ muʃˈtɾaɾɐ̃ũ ̯ nɐ ˈtɛʁɐ tĩʒiˈtɐnɐ
And in their language, which when she imagines, E na língua, na qual quando imagina, i nɐ ˈlĩgu̯ɐ nɐ ku̯aɫ ˈku̯ɐ̃du̯imɐˈʒinɐ
With little strain she can believe is the Latin tongue, Com pouca corrupção crê que é a Latina. kõ ˈpokɐ kuʁupˈsɐ̃ũ ̯ kɾe ki̯ɛ ɐ lɐˈtinɐ
[edit]

See also

* Museum of the Portuguese Language
* Portuguese literature
* List of Portuguese language poets
* Camões Prize
* Instituto Camões
* Brazilian literature
* List of Brazilian poets
* Fernando Pessoa
* Lusitanic
* Portuguese in the United States
* Portuguese on the Internet
* Capeverdean Creole
* Saudade
* English as She Is Spoke
* Swadesh list of Portuguese words

Notes

* 1First and Second with first language speakers, respectively. Only counting figures from countries in the table "Portuguese language countries and Territories". Considering second language speakers those people who are bilingual and use Portuguese as a second language.

References General

* A Língua Portuguesa in Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Literature

* Poesia e Prosa Medievais Ulisseia 1998 (3rd ed.; ISBN 9789725681244).
* Bases Temáticas - Língua Portuguesa in Instituto Camões
* Portuguese Literature in The Catholic Encyclopedia

Phonology, orthography and grammar

* International Phonetic Association (1999) Handbook of the International Phonetic Association ISBN 0-521-63751-1
* Mateus, Maria Helena & d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000) The Phonology of Portuguese ISBN 0-19-823581-X
* Mario Squartini (1998) Verbal Periphrases in Romance -- Aspect, Actionality, and Grammaticalization ISBN 3-11-016160-5
* Bergström, Magnus & Reis, Neves Prontuário Ortográfico Editorial Notícias, 2004.

Reference dictionaries

* Antônio Houaiss (2000), Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa (228,500 entries).
* Aurélio Buarque de Hollanda, Novo Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (1809pp)

Linguistic studies

* Lindley Cintra, Luís F. Nova Proposta de Classificação dos Dialectos Galego-Portugueses Boletim de Filologia, Lisboa, Centro de Estudos Filológicos, 1971.

O Luz da Alegria

2006-06-05T21:37:00.000-02:30

Eu ouvi um sereno canto
Nas alturas do céu cantar
E as montanhas da minha terra em silêncio a escutar...
Eu ouvi um canto sereno
Nas douradas ondas do mar
E nas praias da minha terra, muita gente a escutar...
Ó Luz da Alegria, Ó Alma da Vida!
Ó Luz da Alegria, só te vê quem dá...
Das montanhas da minha terra
Às sagradas praias do mar
Toda a gente escutando espera o Divino Cantar...
Ó Luz da Alegria. Ó Alma da Vida!
Ó Luz da Alegria, só te vê quem dá...

Composição: Pedro Ayres de Magalhães, in Madredeus

O Pastor

2006-06-05T21:23:00.000-02:30

Ai que ninguém volta
ao que já deixou
ninguém larga a grande roda
ninguém sabe onde é que andou

Ai que ninguém lembra
nem o que sonhou
(e) aquele menino canta
a cantiga do pastor

Ao largo
ainda arde
a barca
da fantasia
e o meu sonho acaba tarde
deixa a alma de vigia
Ao largo
ainda arde
a barca
da fantasia
e o meu sonho acaba tarde
acordar é que eu não queria.

Madredeus

Un Dimanche à Pompidou

2006-05-28T14:06:00.000-02:30

Lisboa anda muito Queirosiana...

2006-05-27T15:56:00.000-02:30

Lisboa Queirosiana: São Bento

2006-05-27T15:48:00.000-02:30

(S. Bento)

«Voltou ainda três vezes ao Aterro, não a tornou a ver; e então envergonhou-se humilhado com este interesse romanesco que o trazia assim, numa inquietação de rafeiro perdido, farejando o Aterro, da Rampa de Santos ao Cais do Sodré, à espera de uns olhos negros e de uns cabelos loiros de passagem em Lisboa, e que um paquete da Royal Mail levaria uma dessas manhãs...»

(Os Maias)

Como Eça trata o amor...

Um dos grandes méritos, e dos menos mencionados, do livro (*) é a forma sublime como Eça escreve sobre sexo (**). Não é nas cenas onde entram o lúbrico Amaro ou o decadente Basílio que Eça cria os ambientes mais eróticos, mas aqui, neste livro, onde o sexo aparece em surdina.

Eça de Queirós / Maria Filomena Mónica, p. 228.

(*) Os Maias
(**) Num livro recente, Eduardo Lourenço chamava a atenção para a força erótica dos seus romances. Ver. E. Lourenço, Portugal como Destino, op. cit., pág. 49.

Inspirado nos textos de Eça, ARTSPOTTER publicou uma fotografia muito bonita onde existe um toque erótico à qual não consegui ficar indiferente.

Acrescento ainda um aspecto curioso. ARTSPOTTER é um blog de um holandês, Gustaaf Vander Biest, que sem saber nada de português começou a seguir os textos aqui publicados de Eça e ficou bastante interessado ao que parece, tendo já procurado "Os Maias" no google e na biblioteca local.
Reconheceu que o tema era parecido com uma obra holandesa da mesma época.
Transcrevo aqui parte da sua mensagem: «Last week, I suddenly became interested in your "Os Maias"-stories. Some "googling" made me understand what is was all about. Immediatly I remembered a similar book in Dutch: "Eline Vere" by Louis Couperus, edited for the first time in 1889 (just a year later than "Os Maias"). It plays mainly in The Hague (Holland) and just partly in Brussels, with about the same kind of people in the same kind of world...
The picture "Fin de siècle" on ARTSPOTTER (18.05.2006) was a result of that new knowledge.
"Os Maias" exists in a dutch/flemish version(our local library evens seems to have it). So far I don't know if "Eline Vere" is available in Portuguese.
Have a nice and sunny day.
Here it's raining and pretty cold for the rest of the week.

G.»

- Thank you G. for your beautiful photograph and message!

Lisboa Queirosiana: A tragédia da Rua de São Francisco*

2006-05-27T15:44:00.000-02:30

(Rua de S. Francisco)

«... Mas a ideia de «incesto», todas as consequências desse silêncio lhe apareceram, como vivas e pavorosas, flamejando no escuro, diante dos seus olhos. Poderia ele**, tranquilamente, testemunhar a vida a dois - desde que a sabia «incestuosa»? Ir à Rua de S. Francisco, sentar-se-lhes alegremente à mesa, entrever, através do reposteiro, a cama em que ambos dormiam - e saber que esta sordidez de pecado era obra do seu silêncio? Não podia ser... Mas teria também coragem de entrar, ao outro dia, no quarto de Carlos, e dizer-lhe em face: «Olha que tu és amante de tua irmã»?

...

«... Ia à Rua de S. Francisco.
Mas não se apressava, a pé pelo Aterro, abafado num paletó de peles, acabando o charuto. A noite clareara, com um crescente de Lua entre farrapos de nuvens brancas, que fugiam sob um norte fino.
Fora nessa tarde, só no seu quarto, que Carlos decidira ir falar a Maria Eduarda - por um movimento supremo de dignidade e de razão, que ele descobrira e que repetia a si mesmo, incessantemente, para se justificar. Nem ela nem ele eram duas crianças frouxas, necessitando que a crise temerosa da sua vida lhes fosse resolvida e arranjada pelo Ega ou pelo Vilaça: mas duas pessoas fortes, com o ânimo bastante resoluto, e o juízo bastante seguro, para eles mesmos acharem o caminho da dignidade e da razão naquela catástrofe que lhes desmantelava a existência. Por isso, só ele, devia ir à Rua de S. Francisco.

(Os Maias)

* Actualmente usa o nome de Rua Ivens. Nesta rua vivia Maria Eduarda, irmã e amante de Carlos. Também é a rua do Grémio Literário.
** Ega que acaba de tomar conhecimento que Maria Eduarda é irmã do próprio Carlos.

(Rua de São Francisco, a fachada do prédio cor de rosa é a do Grémio Literário)

Lisboa Queirosiana: Hotel Central

2006-05-27T15:26:00.000-02:30

(Hotel Central*)

«... Entravam então no peristilo do Hotel Central - e nesse momento um coupé da Companhia, chegando a largo trote do lado da Rua do Arsenal, veio estacar à porta.
Um esplêndido preto, já grisalho, de casaca e calção, correu logo à portinhola; de dentro um rapaz muito magro, de barba muito negra, passou-lhe para os braços uma deliciosa cadelinha escocesa, de pêlos esguedelhados, finos como seda e cor de prata; depois apeando-se, indolente e poseur, ofereceu a mão a uma senhora alta, loira, com um meio véu muito apertado e muito escuro que realçava o esplendor da sua carnação ebúrnea. Craft e Carlos afastaram-se, ela passou diante deles, com um passo soberano de deusa, maravilhosamente bem feita, deixando atrás de si como uma claridade, um reflexo de cabelos de oiro, e um aroma no ar. Trazia um casaco de veludo branco de Génova, e um momento sobre as lajes do peristilo brilhou o verniz das suas botinas. O rapaz ao lado, esticado num fato de xadrexinho inglês, abria negligentemente um telegrama; o preto seguia com a cadelinha nos braços. E no silêncio a voz de Craft murmurou:
- Très chic.»

(Os Maias)

* Hotel Central, no Cais do Sodré, cenário do encontro de Carlos com Maria Eduarda.

Lisboa Queirosiana: O Aterro

2006-05-27T15:21:00.000-02:30

(O Aterro)

«... Mas Carlos não escutava, nem sorria já. Do fim do Aterro aproximava-se, caminhando depressa, uma senhora - que ele reconheceu logo, por esse andar que lhe parecia de uma deusa pisando a Terra, pela cadelinha cor de prata que lhe trotava junto às saias, e por aquele corpo maravilhoso onde vibrava, sob linhas ricas de mármore antigo, uma graça quente, ondeante e nervosa. Vinha toda vestida de escuro, numa toilette de serge muito simples que era como o complemento natural da sua pessoa, colocando-se bem sobre ela, dando-lhe, na sua correcção, um ar casto e forte; trazia na mão um guarda-sol inglês, apertado e fino como uma cana; e toda ela, adiantando-se assim no luminoso da tarde, tinha, naquele cais triste de cidade antiquada, um destaque estrangeiro, como o requinte claro de civilizações superiores.
À maneira que ela se afastava, parecia-lhe maior, mais bela: e aquela imagem falsa e literária de uma deusa marchando sobre a Terra prendia-se-lhe à imaginação.
...
Sim, era bem uma deusa...»

(Os Maias)

It's the Unemployment that make it precarious, not the flexibility

2006-05-22T15:49:00.000-02:30

C'est le chômage qui rend précaire, pas la flexibilité.
Aujourd’hui, la Grande-Bretagne a le meilleur taux d’emploi du G7 avec 71,6 % et le deuxième taux de chômage le plus faible avec 4,7 %. Comment l’Angleterre, qui fut convoquée auprès du F.M.I. pour cause de cessation de paiement en 1977, a-t-elle retrouvée la voie de l’emploi ?
L’ambassadeur Sir John Holmes nous explique ci-dessous comment la combinaison d’une véritable réforme de fond et d’un traitement économique du chômage a permis de redresser une situation que d’aucun croyait irréversible.

Certes, la réforme engagée au début des années 80 a coûté cher à court terme. Personne ne le nie ; car il n’est jamais facile de redresser une entreprise. La suppression des subventions et des aides de l’Etat, et le redressement de la rentabilité qui fut le préalable à des privatisations réussies, ont fait disparaître des milliers d’emplois. Mais ces emplois étaient irrémédiablement condamnés, réforme ou pas.
Personne ne peut nier non plus, avec le recul de vingt années, les bénéfices à terme de ces sacrifices que les français n’ont jamais consenti dans les années 80 alors que le gouvernement de l’époque explorait un autre monde.
Nous avons aujourd’hui le recul pour faire le bilan significatif des deux expériences : de ce côté-ci de la Manche, la génération Mitterrand nous laisse un pays irréformable alors que tout reste à faire ; de l’autre côté, les années Thatcher ont remis l’Angleterre en marche. Comme ce bilan ne nous est pas favorable, on se perd en contorsions hypocrites, en mauvaise foi et autres écrans de fumée. Pourtant, c’est notre pays qui fera les frais de cet aveuglement persistant, pas les anglais…C’est donc à nous de réagir.

Force est d’admettre que la thérapie de choc des années Thatcher a contribué à changer les mentalités, faisant notamment comprendre aux anglais qu’ils ne pouvaient pas indéfiniment vivre au-dessus de leurs moyens (alors que le train de vie de l’Etat britannique progressait plus vite que le rythme de la croissance économique). Tony Blair n’est jamais revenu à la situation antérieure et a mis en œuvre une politique économique fondamentalement libérale.

« Au début des années 80, les chômeurs indemnisés n’étaient plus tenus de justifier de leurs recherches puisqu’ils pouvaient continuer à toucher leurs prestations sans se rendre dans les agences pour l’emploi. A cette époque, on voulait protéger à tout prix les travailleurs et éviter les licenciements économiques. On les incitait à sortir du marché du travail et à se mettre en situation d’inactivité, de « victimes » d’un système qui leur devait une prise en charge financière. La réforme ne s’est pas faite du jour au lendemain, mais elle a peu à peu pris une ampleur telle que le marché du travail s’est beaucoup flexibilisé […]. Le corollaire, c’est que celui qui perd son emploi en retrouve un autre sans mal, car les entreprises n’hésitent pas à recruter, sachant qu’elles pourront s’adapter si nécessaire. Pour nous, c’est le chômage et non la flexibilité qui induit la vraie précarité […]. Privilégier la création des entreprises mène naturellement à l’emploi, ce qui mène à son tour à la croissance » [1].

Si les anglais l’ont compris, les français sont bien capables de le comprendre, un jour.
[1] Lettre Outre-Manche n°163, Ambassade de Grande-Bretagne, Mars 2006.

Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me

2006-05-18T16:48:00.000-02:30

Uma grande amiga minha, M. H., mandou-me isto:

Nao tenho muito mas o pouco que tenho e teu

Se mais ninguem te ouvir quem te ouve sou eu
E quando tiveres triste, com falta de um amigo
Fecha os olhos nao temas porque eu vou estar aqui contigo
Eu sei que pensas muitas vezes que queres fugir
Eu sei que gritas e nao tens ninguem para te acudir
Vida madrasta nada corre como a gente quer
Tens que enfrentar o destino para o que der e vier
Ao meu alcance faco tudo o que poder para ti
Peco desculpas pelos erros, sei que os cometi
Nao vou julgar-te porque tambem eu posso ser reu
Nao vou julgar-te porque quem te julga esta no ceu
Quero que saibas que podes contar com o meu amparo
Amizade pura e um sentimento cada vez mais raro
Conto contigo para fazeres o que faco por ti
E quando nada correr bem eu estou aqui

Se precisares de mim eu estou aqui
Quando quiseres falar eu estou aqui
Se te faltar um amigo eu estou aqui
Se precisares de alguem eu estou aqui
Se precisares de mim eu estou aqui
Quando quiseres falar eu estou aqui
Se te faltar um amigo eu estou aqui
Se precisares de alguem eu estou aqui

Tantas as coisas que juntos fizemos tu e eu
Custa a crer mas a verdade e que o tempo correu
Nem sempre e facil as vezes frases magoam
Sem deixar magoas porque amigos sao os que perdoam
e quando se ve quem e amigo de quem, no mal e no bem
Sentindo desdem rodeado de gente sem nunca ter ninguem
Alguem para falar, sempre pronto a escutar
A mao que se estende, a mao que te ajuda a levantar
Quem te corrige quando tu nao sabes o que e certo
Quem te da agua quando te perdes nalgum deserto
Sempre por perto sempre pronto para chorar ou rir
Quem te conhece e sabes quando tu estas a mentir
Nao sou perfeito mas sabes que sou sincero
Nunca te esquecas de mim aqui sou tudo o que eu quero
E espero que nada nem ninguem nos faca separar
Conto contigo, comigo podes sempre contar...
Eu estou aqui

Please, have a look at the M. H.'s webpage. thanx*****

Le Corbeau et le Renard

2006-05-16T16:41:00.000-02:30

Maître corbeau, sur un arbre perché,
Tenait en son bec un fromage.
Maître renard par l'odeur alléché ,
Lui tint à peu près ce langage:
«Hé! Bonjour Monsieur du Corbeau.
Que vous êtes joli! Que vous me semblez beau!
Sans mentir, si votre ramage
Se rapporte à votre plumage,
Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois»
A ces mots le corbeau ne se sent pas de joie;
Et pour montrer sa belle voix,
Il ouvre un large bec laisse tomber sa proie.
Le renard s'en saisit et dit: "Mon bon Monsieur,
Apprenez que tout flatteur
Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute:
Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage sans doute."
Le corbeau honteux et confus
Jura mais un peu tard , qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus.
Jean de La Fontaine, in "Les Fables de La Fontaine"

Angelina - Salon de Thé

2006-05-10T16:40:00.000-02:30

La veille je suis allé chez Angelina. Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas, il s'agit d'un salon de thé parisien particulièrement réputé pour son délicieux chocolat chaud. De ma première visite qui remonte à plus de dix ans, je me souviens en effet d'un onctueux chocolat chaud mais aussi d'une tasse fêlée, d'une queue interminable et d'une note remise avant même la fin de la dégustation. Hum! Cette année, j'ai été agréablement surpris à tous points de vue : nous n'avons pas fait la queue, la salle était beaucoup plus grande que dans mon souvenir, le service était beaucoup plus aimable, le chocolat chaud tout aussi bon et servi dans des tasses en bon état! Aussi, j'ai eu l'occasion de goûter à la pâtisserie vedette de la maison, que j'ai nommé le Mont Blanc.

Le Mont Blanc est une délicate confection composée d'une délicate meringue, sur laquelle repose un nuage de crème Chantilly, elle-même décorée de petits spaghettis de crème de marrons. Ca n'a l'air de rien dit comme ça mais détrompez-vous : dès la première bouchée, le Mont Blanc vous fera conduira sur les cîmes du plaisir. Vous tomberez sous le charme de la meringue fondante, fondrez de plaisir pour la légère Chantilly avant de vous succomber aux charmes de la délicate crème de marrons. L'espace d'un instant, j'ai cru que j'avais croqué dans un nuage.

Angelina, 226, rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris - Métro Tuileries.

Hi!

2006-05-03T15:44:00.000-02:30

Ola! Acabo de criar um novo blog exclusivamente meu. Espero q este venha a ser um espaco q desejo interactivo e onde possamos partilhar ideias opinioes. Nao deixe de comentar! Um Bem-Haja!!

Hi! I've just created a weblog of my own. I wish it may become as interesting as possible so that we can chat in an interactive way, namely sharing points of views, opinions and so on. Have fun and God Bless You!

Salut! Je viens de créér un blog uniquement à moi. J'éspère qu'il sera ce dont je désire: aussi interactif q possible sans pour autant perdre sa fonction principale qui est d'être un lieu où l'on puisse partager des points de vues, opinions et ainsi de suite. Bien amicalement vôtre

2006-05-03T12:08:00.000-02:30