3. make it visible
3.1. Iara
3.1.1. [but before,]
Those who drive along BR 116 road, at km 449, towards the south of Brazil, may not notice the small town on the side of the highway. With modest houses and family backyards, the district of Iara is a typical village in the semi-arid region of Ceará. To its oldest residents, the city represents the history of generations of families who witnessed the growth and retraction of the district, closely accompanying the trajectory of its inhabitants.
In the research for the construction of this historical rescue, I came across to the following passage: “Whoever is born and lives in Iara, or spent most of their life there, often listens to the stories of their past” (SÁ, 2002, p. 02). The sentence constructed by Josefa Elionita de Almeida Sá, composes the introduction of her monograph in philosophy, entitled “The subjective and objective representations of the inhabitants of Iara on historical and political issues of the place”, and which is presented here as the main academic source of research for the understanding of the characters, stories and historical facts that permeate the more than a century of existence of the locality.
"People remain for a long time on the sidewalks, commenting on the situation in which they live. This sharing affects both personal life and projects (never daring) of managing survival. The assiduous observation of nature's signs is also part of this interactive life framework for a safe application of scarce resources, in planting and harvesting each year. The sidewalk thus constitutes an already consecrated space where life circulates and maintains the organization of daily existence in the district."
― Fragment freely translated from the work entitled "As representações subjetivas e objetivas dos habitantes de Iara sobre questões históricas e políticas do lugar" (“The subjective and objective representations of the inhabitants of Iara on historical and political issues of the place”) by the author SÁ, Josefa Elionita de Almeida. FAFIC - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letra de Cajazeiras, 2002.
The word “listens”, in Josefa's first phrase, explains the value of spoken language, of everyday conversations in the construction of popular imagination and the region's past. The auditory and visual memory, as a tool for the transmission of knowledge to future generations, still finds space nowadays, even in the midst of the decreasing number of listeners.
It is impossible to determine the beginning of Iara's history. Thus, I will use the information found in interviews and in the scarce written material, to elaborate the narrative of the city development. Cangati, Boa Esperança and Iara, are the names that identify the village, in the present and in the past, and here I will use them as divisors for this narrative.
1. SÁ, Josefa Elionita de Almeida. As representações subjetivas e objetivas dos habitantes de Iara sobre questões históricas e políticas do lugar. Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso, Graduação em Licenciatura Plena em Filosofia, FAFIC - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letra de Cajazeiras, Orientador: Ronaldo José de Sousa, 51 páginas. Cajazeiras, PB. 2002.
3.1.2. [cangati]
At the beginning of the 19th century, Iara presented the configuration of a village, with the name of Cangati. It is in the pamphlet “Geographic Description and Historical News of the District of Iara, municipality of Aurora, state of Ceará”, from 1948, that we find the compilation of reports that mark the beginning of the district. At the time, the authorship of the pamphlet was signed only as “one of its inhabitants”, and the author was later identified by family members.
Despite his primary education, João Pereira dos Santos developed an important research project and “after a geographical description of the village, he chose the furthest point he could reach, in an interview with the personality with the most refined knowledge and among those who retain a state of good mentality, gathered the most relevant facts and a starting point for us to better begin the different phases that Iara has been going through” (SÁ, 2002, p. 11).
It is said that between the Riacho-Seco and Serra das Balanças, to the Riacho-dos-Cavalos, Baixio-Grande and Diamante, there was, before the drought of 1877, a military regency barracks (built to guard the Paraíba-Ceará states), surrounded by small and few houses, which formed Cangati. The barracks was located where the old market and its commercial buildings now exist. In the 1960s, when the area was excavated to pave the streets, the foundations of the building were found, erected by the carpenter at the time, José Guilherme.
Next to the barracks was the old road that connected Rio Grande do Norte state, Paraíba state and Cariri, through which the main goods of the time passed. In this way, Cangati became a resting place for travelers who stayed overnight in the village.
At a certain point in the first half of the century, for the convenience of the State, the barracks was closed. Despite this, Lieutenant Lisboa, a retired military man, decides to stay and establish housing in the region, becoming the owner of the farm that still bears his name. Among those who traveled through the village was the Viriato family, who came from Pombal and Vale do Piancó, in Paraíba state. Due to the strategic position, they bought the State lands and returned to Cangati, in order to settle down and establish themselves commercially. However, when claiming the purchased land, they found the Lieutenant, who had taken over part of it..
It was common for the animals of the Viriato family, when grazing free, to advance and destroy the crops of the Lisboa site. The Lieutenant, in the midst of frustrated attempts at negotiation, killed the animals, which provoked the ire of the Paraíba family and resulted in the murder of the soldier between the Queimadas and Girau sites, after six months of ambushes.
"Some refer to them as “family”, others as outlaws, “bandits” and “looters”, “revolters”. The written document that we have used since the beginning of this work, shows that it was a family that, due to the murder of Lieutenant Lisboa, “...was forced to mobilize and fortified themselves, forming a square of war”.
― Fragment freely translated from the work entitled "As representações subjetivas e objetivas dos habitantes de Iara sobre questões históricas e políticas do lugar" (“The subjective and objective representations of the inhabitants of Iara on historical and political issues of the place”) by the author SÁ, Josefa Elionita de Almeida. FAFIC - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letra de Cajazeiras, 2002.
It is said that the Nossa Senhora da Conceição Chapel, one of the oldest buildings in Iara, was built by Vicente Viriato so that his son, who was starting his life as a priest, would celebrate masses. The extent of the family's purchasing power is not known for sure, but it is said that they carried out assaults on the population of neighboring sites (up to 20 leagues away) and that they swelled the camp itself by welcoming refugees from the drought, supporting them as allies.
The criminal death of Lieutenant Lisboa, associated with the banditry that terrorized the population, culminated in the intervention of the Imperial Government, which in response to the just cry of the people, decreed the annihilation of the the Viriato family.
The Viriatos, along with the scourges of the drought, resisted the successive attacks of the troops with weapons, so as to be forever marked in the local popular imagination, for their resistance and anti-heroic reputation. However, a surprise attack arrived one morning, surrounding the city's four entrances and sounding trumpet blasts. It is said that the imperial army found the rebels enjoying themselves to the sound of harmonica, coco and cabaçal band.
The combat lasted until the following day and a true scenario of war and mutilation was what was found in the morning. Some men managed to escape dressed as women, as these were spared during the massacre. Another three were captured and taken to the Fortress, in Fortaleza, to be incarcerated in the barracks, managing to escape a short time later, through the sewer pipe, which drained into the sea.
It is difficult to punctuate with certainty the years and the veracity of the narrated events, since there are no official published records or even other written sources. However, it is estimated that the repopulation of Cangati only took place effectively after the passage of Padre Ibiapina and the change of name to Boa Esperança, from migratory cycles between 1880 and 1890, with families coming from Paraíba and Ceará.
Nossa Senhora da Conceição Chapel
3.1.3. [boa esperança]
After the extermination of the Viriatos, it is estimated that Cangati went through a period of complete abandonment and the only ones to transit through those lands were travelers uninformed about the slaughter. Bodies were lodged in houses and streets, never having been buried, and stories of hauntings spread through the cities and neighboring sites.
It was in this context that the figure of Father Ibiapina arrived at the place, probably between 1870 and 1875. The cleric had been carrying out missions in the interior of the Northeast of Brazil since 1856 and his main work consisted of building hospitals, charity houses, cemeteries, dams and churches.
Arriving in Cangati, he summoned the crowds from the farms and other localities and there he “preached his word”, gathering the population to build a stone and lime cemetery - since the dead were buried in a fence - and a dam, since the water supply was done in the head, in the gallon and in animals (anchortas).
Finally, in one of his last sermons, Father Ibiapina proposes to change the name of Cangati to Boa Esperança (Good Hope) and thus declares: “If there is unity in men, the place will be Boa Esperança, but if there is not, from Cangati it will not pass”. According to oral tradition, this speech was followed by the gesture of “beating the dust off his sandals” by the priest, which is interpreted by some residents, even today, as a curse.
3.1.4. [crossing]
It was at the beginning of the 20th century that the second generation of Viriatos arrived in Boa Esperança, where, in 1910, they set up a cotton processing factory (called the “white gold” of the sertanejos), exploring the economic potential of the place. At that time, the city attracted a large contingent of people, mainly merchants, who sought to enjoy the monday fairs.
"Early in the morning the daily activity began. Cotton was transported on animals or trucks. The trampling, the sounds of leather harnesses, the shouts of drovers and the noise of cars entered the night. Inside the factory, the leather trade also operated."
― Fragment freely translated from the work entitled "As representações subjetivas e objetivas dos habitantes de Iara sobre questões históricas e políticas do lugar" (“The subjective and objective representations of the inhabitants of Iara on historical and political issues of the place”) by the author SÁ, Josefa Elionita de Almeida. FAFIC - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letra de Cajazeiras, 2002.
Merchants from neighboring municipalities frequented cities for their strong economic appeal and soon began to take up residence and contribute to the urban formation of Iara. Thus, commercial, school and service buildings were built. Due to the nationalist campaign of the Vargas Era, of indigenous glamour, several Brazilian cities and towns began to receive names that refer to the culture of this population. It was at this time, and within this context, that Boa Esperança changed its name to Iara. At a given moment, due to its position and strategic growth, the village became a district of Aurora, until 1952, connecting to the Fortaleza through the train line.
Until the 1950s and early 60s, Iara was established as one of the most prosperous places in the entire border region. With an economy based on subsistence agriculture (sweet potatoes, sugar cane, rice, beans, cassava, vegetables and fruits), a service front (with the construction of roads and dams), commerce (with open markets) and industry (with the processing of cotton), the city was developing towards its political emancipation.
"Every small farmer kept a good herd of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and chickens were raised in the families' backyards. (…) With the balance of this production, the survival and fixation of people in the place was guaranteed. There were few cases of emigration and, common, they returned once the effects of the droughts passed. However, it was commerce that maintained Iara's financial movement."
― Fragment freely translated from the work entitled "As representações subjetivas e objetivas dos habitantes de Iara sobre questões históricas e políticas do lugar" (“The subjective and objective representations of the inhabitants of Iara on historical and political issues of the place”) by the author SÁ, Josefa Elionita de Almeida. FAFIC - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letra de Cajazeiras, 2002.
The weekly open-air market was one of the biggest local events. In the memory of its former residents, there is an image of the multitude of sellers and buyers, who gathered through the small streets and unpaved blocks, trading fabrics, shoes, nets, gold, offal, flour and São Félix starch, cotton, leather and other local products.
In addition to commerce, another major attractive factor in the district was education. After the first years of learning at home, through itinerant teachers who taught collective classes, it was common for parents to send their children to Iara, in order to provide a better education. Some students came with their families, others stayed with relatives and, in exchange for lodging, worked in domestic services and other activities.
This migratory contingent contributed for the construction of new houses, consolidating the population increase and the growth, mainly, of the economy, culture and education sectors. Reinforcing this characteristic, Iara became a district known for its contingent of state employees, such as collectors, inspectors, delegates and teachers.
Inauguration of the Iara reservoir, 1960s
3.1.7. [talking as an instinct]
"The question of narration is undoubtedly related to the question of memory (and also of childhood and death) and, thus, of history, in particular, of historiography, that is, of the way of telling or narrating history, of transmitting it."
― Fragment freely translated from the work entitled "Elogio aos errantes" (“Praise to the wanderers”) by the author JACQUES, Paola Berenstein. Salvador, EDUFBA, 331 p., 2012
Every ability to remember is a strategy to contain time, this abrasive and uncompromising dimension. Through orality, the verbalized word, we have the flashes of memory against forgetting. When we don't talk about something, we open the doors to its decline, we impoverish the narration.
I consider late afternoon conversations, on all kinds of sidewalks, occupying the facades of houses, wind-words around the world, one of the main invented ways of transmitting experiences. Spoken memory acts “as something dynamic, a process of recomposition, return, revision, patches of a past, where everything that has passed is co-present with what happens, being constantly, rewritten through narratives, not as a simple return. origin, but as a reinscription” (JACQUES, 2012).
In these places of slow time, in the past, when electric light was not yet powerful and present, time was, so to speak, shortened. What was left of the setting sun were voices, voices that narrated stories from the past, dramatic or pictures of stories, of family members or characters invented right there. Plots read from a classic novel or popular cordel, everything was food and combustion in the darkest nights.
The language of spoken tradition, transmitted secularly, consists of one of the main means of knowledge, of writing and creating cities and collective territories.
1. JACQUES, Paola Berenstein. Elogio aos errantes. Salvador, EDUFBA, 331 p., 2012.
3.1.9. [types]
Inhabiting the semiarid region is an exercise in observation. It is necessary to take ownership of adversities and find solutions in the minutiae of time, climate, landscape. In Iara, there is a predominance of buildings with low thermal comfort, little predominance of natural ventilation and little lighting. With major climatic restrictions, it is necessary to build with attention to energy efficiency and the use of local resources. The following are examples of the typologies found in the district:
