São Pedro do Butiá is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

, Brazil. As of 2020, the estimated population was 2,949.

Minority language

Like many towns in the state which were first settled by

German-speaking German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is a ...

Brazilians from the ''Altkolonie'' or the old colonies in the East, the regional German language is still present in daily family and community life, if not as much in the public sphere since

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

due to language repression public policies implemented by the State (i.e. Getúlio Vargas' aggressive nationalization campaign). Among other informal names (and often pejorative descriptions), the local dialect is gaining recognition by its formal name,

Riograndenser Hunsrückisch Hunsrik (natively ''Hunsrik'' , ''Hunsrückisch'' or ''Hunsrickisch'' and Portuguese ''hunsriqueano'' or ''hunsriqueano riograndense''), also called Riograndese Hunsrik, ' or ', is a Moselle Franconian language derived primarily from the Hunsr� ...

(international language code: ISO 639-3 hrx), a reference to the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

region of southwest Germany, where the language has strong linguistic roots (see: West Middle German dialects). In 2012 the state chamber of deputies voted unanimously in favor of recognizing this Germanic dialect an official historical intangible culture good to be preserved. Later, in 2014, the

National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (, IPHAN) is a heritage register of the federal government of Brazil. It is responsible for the preservation of buildings, monuments, structures, objects and sites, as well as the register an ...

(IPHAN in Portuguese), under the overview of the

Ministry of Culture of Brazil The Ministry of Culture of Brazil (, MinC) is a cabinet-level federal ministry created in 1985, in the first month of president's José Sarney government, dissolved by Jair Bolsonaro in 2019 and reinstated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 20 ...

, officially announced of a project of recognition, survey and support to the maintenance of the local language.

Pioneer park

São Pedro do Butiá, also known simplesmente as ''Butiá'' in Portuguese or ''Butioo'' in German, has a popular pioneer village park called ''Centro Germânico Missioneiro'' (here ''missioneiro'' is a reference to the old

Jesuit Missions The phrase Jesuit missions usually refers to a Jesuit missionary enterprise in a particular area, involving a large number of Jesuit priests and brothers, and lasting over a long period of time. List of some Jesuit missions * Circular Mission ...

, established in the general area during colonial times, around three hundred years before the more modern settlement of the area). The village has many different structures, like a general store, a country school, and some relocated old homes which are all set around a large statue of

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

, the patron saint of this mostly catholic municipality. According to official information, the 30 meters tall statue of St. Peter is the same size as the world-famous statue of Christ the Redeemer, found at the top of the

Sugarloaf Mountain Sugarloaf Mountain (, ) is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on a peninsula at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. Rising above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf suga ...

in the city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Neo-Gothic architecture

The church of São Pedro Apóstolo (St. Peter Apostle) of São Pedro do Butiá is a very good example of the

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

architecture which prevailed and characterizes most of the earlier larger religious structures in the Germanic regions in the Northwest of the state. Even more impressive is its parish church: The main church Paróquia Sagrada Família de Narazé (Sacred Family of Nazareth Church) is a much larger and a two-towered neo-Gothic construction. Located 15 kilometers away from São Pedro do Butiá, the Igreja Matriz, as it is known, was built between 1913 and 1921 and in the same general revival style.

References

German-Brazilian culture Languages of Brazil Municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul {{RioGrandedoSul-geo-stub

Minority language

Pioneer park

Neo-Gothic architecture

See also

References