São Paulo – Getting to know the city of Floriano, approximately 250 kilometres away from Teresina, the capital of the state of Piauí, means getting to know the history of Arab colonization in the Brazilian Northeast, from the last decades of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. During the period, 80 Arab families, mostly Syrian, arrived at the region, fleeing the rule of the Ottoman Empire. There, they helped shape the municipality, introducing habits and living stories that are told until this day.
“They started arriving at Floriano when the city was still being formed. That is why they interfered so much,” says Oscar Procópio, the municipality’s deputy mayor and author of the thesis “Learning from the other: the Arabs in Floriano,” which he defended in 2008 at the Federal University of Piauí.
He explains that one of the main changes promoted by the newly-arrived Arabs was the functioning of local trade. Different from native merchants, who shut down their stores at lunchtime and accepted only cash, Arabs kept their stores open all day long and introduced instalment sales, through which goods were only fully paid for one year after their purchase.
Luis Paulo de Oliveira, a retired teacher who helped write the book Floriano, sua história, sua gente (Floriano, its history, its people), by teacher and historian Josefina Demes, explains how the Arab instalment sale used to work in Floriano. "[The buyers] would leave Floriano and head to other states, such as Bahia, Goiás, Maranhão. They would make their purchases here and pay upon their return. They would buy enough for them to sell during the whole year.”
Another fact that drew local attention was that Arab women took part in the activities at the stores. “At that time, women did not work. This was something new,” claims Procópio.
Thus, it was no wonder that the success of Arab stores began bothering local merchants, to the point that Arabs were driven away from the city and only returned through the governor’s interference. “They contributed to make Floriano a large trade hub at that time,” says the deputy mayor.
As if trade-related conflict was not enough, language was another barrier that Arabs had to overcome in order to live in Floriano. “They would not say much, to avoid being discriminated against. Upon arriving here, the first thing [they would do] was to forget the Arabic language,” says Oliveira.
As a result of their integration efforts in Floriano, Arabs left a vast heritage in the life of the municipality. Now, safiha, kibbeh, tabbouleh, babaganoush and the likes are staples of Floriano’s cuisine. “Many of their culinary habits were brought to the city and we do not regard them as Arab habits, we see them as if they were local,” explains Procópio.
The architecture, of course, could not be left out. The city’s first two-storey house was built by an Arab, and some houses bear Arabic inscriptions on their facades.
Safiha and cajuína
Apart from traditional heritage, one of the outstanding features of Arab immigration in Floriano is the folklore that resulted from the combination of the two cultures. The interaction among people with such different habits has led to some food stories. For a long time, they were passed through word of mouth, until one of the approximately 6,000 Arab descendents living in Floriano decided to write them down, so that his city’s tales would be preserved.
Salomão Cury-Rad Oka is a dentist. A descendent of Syrians, he grew up hearing stories from his family and friends. Approximately four years ago, he started collecting the tales that he heard, and was invited to write about them for the local newspaper.
The column was a success, next there came a blog, and late this year he should release a book with some of the best stories he has heard from the folklore that brings together Arabs and Floriano natives.
The most featured character in these stories is Salomão Mazuad, an Arab who arrived in Piauí at around 1910. “He is the great icon of our folklore. He made a fortune here in Floriano,“ says Oka. According to the dentist, what made Mazuad special was his “exceptional“ intelligence and charisma. “He had over 400 godchildren in the city.”
Cury-Rad’s book will be entitled Esfiha com cajuína. Safiha is a typical Arab food, and cajuína is a typical local beverage made from cashew. The two represent the mixture of the two peoples in Floriano. “The book features unusual situations involving Piauí natives and Arabs. It mixes Arab and Brazilian culture, and the stories always have a moral, and are always funny.”
The author has already collected 200 stories. Not all of them will make it into the book, but the number of tales only tends to grow, as a result of a culture-rich mix that is passed on from generation to generation. “Some people schedule appointments with me just to talk about their fathers,” claims the writer.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
