It is estimated that somewhere between five and six million European immigrants arrived on the Brazilian coast during this long period, population contingent that added to the Portuguese and Africans here already established with the various native indigenous nations. From other continents also came to Brazil: Jews, Arabs, Japanese, etc and little by little the population profile of the nation we know today was gradually outlining: a peaceful Brazil, miscegenated, large and contrasting.

          In our state of Santa Catarina the process of foreign colonization begins basically with the establishment of the Portuguese in the coastal region from the first half of the 16th century, with the foundation of the cities of São Francisco do Sul, Desterro and Laguna. In the 18th century with the emergence of the “Paths of the Troops” cities like Lages were founded in the Santa Catarina highlands. In the 19th century European colonization began with the arrival of German immigrants in the region of São Pedro de Alcântara and later the occupation of the Itajaí-Açu river Valley. Italians also go to that Valley but they also settle in the South region. In the 20th century the Contestado War emerges and leaves its mark on the lands of the Midwest and the North of the State, period in which Italians, Germans and their descendants from the State of Rio Grande do Sul are little by little occupying the West and the Far West. In this period of time, to a lesser extent, immigrants from other origins are also settling in Santa Catarina lands: Poles and other Slavic, Austrian, Russian, French, Belgian, Japanese, Arab peoples among many others. The arrival of Africans from various countries and their descendants has been recorded since the first vessels came in the 16th century. The presence of the Xokleng, Caingangue and Guarani ethnic groups are still mostly registered in the indigenous area called Terra Indígena Laklãnõ, region of the city of Ibirama. The fact is that the population of Santa Catarina ended up becoming a mosaic of ethnic groups. Ethnic groups whose descendants in addition to sharing the same space still preserve and highly value these origins.

          Bathed by the sea our State has a rugged, mountainous relief and consequently a robust fluvial system which associated with fertile soils were and are largely propellants of a diverse generation of goods. These qualities also contributed to the formation of the necessary structural base for the setting of such diverse peoples in this territory. The immigrant`s original know-how thus had to transform, adapt and ended up producing something new, unique: another original. Traveling through Santa Catarina`s lands allows us to know riches of this nature. We see this mainly in the regional cultural manifestations: gastronomy, uses and customs, accents, architecture, art, traditions, folklore, music, dances, parties, rites, religiosity. These characteristics show a little more what it is to be a person from Santa Catarina State: something that perhaps transposes his natural hospitality and exposes the profile of someone capable of being multiple and being unique at the same time.

          Through Santa Catarina lands and with this perspective I have been traveling for some years. In addition to the privilege of having countless experiences I am a witness of how many stories I heard, witnessed and how much they touched me. I can undoubtedly affirm that we have an immense intangible cultural heritage that still needs greater appreciation and research worthy of its magnitude.

          Because of the uniqueness I share with you one of these significant stories. A story full of heroism, meanings and symbolisms that only the human being is capable of emanating and reproduces in much the saga of the immigrants that arrived here.

          It was September 10, 1933. At the train station of Wörgl in Austria 85 men mostly from Tyrol and Vorarlberg, led by Minister of Agriculture Andreas Thaler, gathered to take the train to Genoa in Italy. At the port of Genoa they boarded the ship “Principessa Maria” towards Rio de Janeiro. During the activities of the trip they create the Tyrolean Band and the Austrian Folk Dance Group Schuhplattler; cultural entities that remain alive and active to this day. After eight days in Rio de Janeiro they boarded the boat “Baependi” to São Francisco do Sul. From there they followed the train to the west of Santa Catarina until the city of Porto União, and then to the south until Itapuí station located in Barra do Rio São Bento (currently the city of Ibicaré). There were still 14 km to the final destination but before that it was necessary to cross the river. “The crossing of people was made by a small boat made of tree trunks and for the carts a primitive raft guided by a steel cable was used. The crossing of the heavy machines was a feat.” ... ”When the pioneers arrived at São Bento they found people already settled coming from Lower Austria, who under the leadership of Anton Schaupenlehner had arrived in 1930. In this place there were still some huts of former settlers who had left. In these miserable dwellings the newcomers found temporary accommodation. Despite everything they were happy but no one wanted to spend the night outdoors ... ” [free translation of “75 anos Dreizehnlinden - Treze Tílias” by Martin Reiter]. From Ibicaré they went on foot with carts and equipment to the colony site. Some people nowadays say that they have arrived in the late afternoon of October 13, 1933. This group of Austrians was “a pioneer” in opening the way for the next thirteen groups of immigrants that come later. These pioneering immigrants began na organized construction of the new colony: Dreizehnlinden. There they eternalize the ideals of "the victory of love over violence" contained in the famous poems of the book of the same name by Friedrich Wilhelm Weber that inspired Minister Thaler.

          In total 789 Austrian citizens arrived until 1938. In addition to these later Italians and Germans also settled in the colony. Because the German language was banned in Brazil in 1941 the original name of the city was changed from Dreizehnlinden to Papuan (name of the river that flows through the city). Only after 1956 the name became Treze Tílias a translation of Dreizehnlinen into Portuguese. In addition to the Portuguese language, German continues to be used frequently among the inhabitants of the municipality. Dialects from the Tyrol and Vorarlberg regions are still preserved.

          Historically the district of Linha Babenberg emerges in 1934 as the first agricultural community in the Dreizehnlinden colony. Most likely the name Babenberg made reference to a noble dynasty of Marqueses and Dukes of Austria that existed between the years 976 and 1246. An inclusive look at this community we have from the words of Mrs. Maria Ana Unterberger in the book [Páginas da Vida - As Histórias das comunidades do interior de Treze Tílias, free translation]: ”In October 1933 it was decided by the colony administration that all residents should work in a kind of community. It was agreed that as soon as there was basic food for all residents for some time everyone could do their jobs on their own properties. To achieve this goal there were good prospects in Babenberg as the soil quality was very good and through group work, it could easily be produced wheat, corn, etc sufficient for the entire colonization and immigrant group.” In the same book Mrs. Elfrida Felder tells us that: “The first great family that went to live in Babenberg was Fidel Felder, with twelve children in the first days of August 1934. Today the only old house from that time. It was built in 1942 by Fildel Felder himself. Today his grandson Alberto Magnus Felder lives with his family in the same house.” ... “The first stone mill in Babenberg was the Schenach`s. Gabriela Grande, Babenberg`s first teacher is a midwife. Families with many children felt the need to build a church and a school. Mrs. Ella, as they called her was a trained teacher (Ella Grander), started working with children at school and catechesis. Her husband Josef Grander took on the functions of sexton organizing weddings, etc. I cannot forget that Mrs. Ella Grander was often called day and night to attend births. Mrs. Ella made those with great skill, dedication, calm and hygiene. To Mr. Franz Schimpfössl the community owes the existence of the beautiful cave of Our Lady of Aparecida, because he donated the land installed the water with the help of his adopted son Josef Zieher and Erwin Felder, the late Nicolaus Felder, in the construction of the cave and volunteers. The Via Crucis was carved by Erwin Felder, he had much love and consideration for Babenberg. The colonization leadership was forced to end the community work system and let everyone start working on their own land. The community developed quickly becoming the granary of colonization since the production of food and cereals was very large.” ... "By the fifties with the great migratory to the lands of the west of Paraná State many families left Babenberg, the village that existed around the small church disappeared." ... "The most important families from that now reside in the city of Treze Tílias".

           With these and many other stories the Linha Babenberg continues today to maintain its agricultural vocation and few residents like the family of Mr. Alberto Magnus Felder who lives in the wooden house built by his grandfather Erwin Felder in 1942. His great creation of sheep gives to the property a setting that resembles even more the lands of its Austrian ancestors: the Alps.

          On a walk through the depths of this region we find peculiar corners. A winding road leads to the Franz Schimpfösel covered bridge at the entrance of Babenberg. There is a great space for leisure and religiosity. A Ballroom and other buildings form a kind of Events Centre followed by a grass soccer field surrounded by very old and tall trees. Most of them surround the lake where several barbecues are located for use in community gatherings. The paths in the middle of the preserved forest take us to the top of the hill where a wooden chapel built in 1934 is located, which simply preserves traces that refer to the alpine churches of the colonizers. It was originally built on the site now occupied by the Ballroom and was later transported to the highest point of the hill. At the back of the Chapel another path leads to the Cemetery of the Immigrants. The place eternalizes a little of the ancestral memory of men, women and children who left their ”Heimat” (“their homeland”, free translation from the German) to establish another place home. Their names perpetuated on small metal plates are affixed in ornate wooden crosses and fixed directly to the ground in the most traditional way. Symbolically they contain a little bit of the soul of each of those pioneers and mark forever the journey that ended there. A place of prayer and veneration where the community pays special tribute to their ancestors. Following another path further down we find the Our Lady of Aparecida cave an environment of pilgrimage thanksgiving and faith. This cave came into existence in the second half of the 1970s. There is na information that there was already a diagonal gap between the existing rocks and the cave was made by excavation (including manual) of the lower stone. It was inaugurated by Father Johann Otto Küng on May 9, 1976. Following and around the hill there is a trail in the middle of the forest where wooden sculptures by Erwin Felder with images representing the Stations of the Cross are placed. Annually on the 12th of October pilgrimages take place towards Babenberg. The pilgrims depart from the front of the Mother Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, continue for 8 km until they reach the Our Lady of Aparecida cave where a mass is held in honor of the Saint Patron of Brazil and afterwards a barbecue is served as a form of socializing for the entire community present.

          In Babenberg silence is only broken by the sound of the wind in the trees and the song of birds: a place of peace that preserves the strength of the original nature and where it reigns exuberantly. Dry leaves and pine cones are interwoven through the dense forest sometimes closed sometimes open. They are the result of portentous trees that share the space with ancient Araucaria trees, being the only living witnesses of a history that continues to reverberate in itself. Yes, they are no longer there, their tracks are no more they were erased just as the ocean did: it was a path of no return and they knew it. And it was this same nature that once welcomed and nurtured them, is that it is also its guardian exercising the trust that it granted. The sacredness present in Babenberg is, therefore, far beyond the human dimension: it has a subtle energy and contains the indelible image of the past lived by its people. It is in fact a great sample of what nature and humanity are were and will be: an indivisible whole to which we all belong.

          Symbolically Babenberg can be anywhere that welcomes, nourishes and protects us. The uniqueness of this epic Austrian trajectory that ends there, in my view, brings together facts that are truly unique but at the same time are universal. They are heroic in themselves and reveal to us that human capacity can go far beyond what is seen in the first layer. There will be others, and others and many more. May its legacy of overcoming strengthen us even more and let us never forget that ultimately we are part of one people: the people of God, and that we are always very proud of our origins without losing sight of what we are also originating.

          The photographic images presented in this virtual exhibition were mostly captured in 2017 on the eve and on the day of the procession in honor of Our Lady of Aparecida, which takes place annually on October 12. They were designed to be presented in monochromatic tones because I think that when we remove colors, shadows, lights, contrasts, shapes, volumes, textures, it remains the essence remains, it becomes timeless.

          I offer this work to all those that migrate. So that your pain is not in vain and that your fearlessness in the face of the challenge of the unknown is the driving force for the fulfillment of your mission, compensated by the fruits that this struggle is capable of bringing you.

          In the 13-minute photo-video in Portuguese below, other reflections on the topic: