THE MYTH OF THE MARRANO NAMES
by professor Anita Novinsky,
University of São Paulo
http://historia.fflch.usp.br/sites/historia.fflch.usp.br/files/THE%20MYTH%20OF%20THE%20MARRANO%20NAMES.pdf
"The romantic historiography about the Marranos and Marranism created
a series of myths in relation to the names adopted by the Jews during and
after their forced conversion in 1497 in Portugal......."
Text published in " Revue des Études Juives"
Juillet-décembre 2006
2013/07/28
CARLOS FARINHA
(All paintings are acrylic on canvas unless otherwise stated. All prices
are in euros net of shipping costs. For more information contact, ladina.sefarad@gmail.com or the artist.)
Carlos Farinha, forty-two years old, started painting when his family returned to Portugal from France at the age of fifteen. He is the son of José Antonio Ribeiro Farinha and Maria do Carmo Rosa Lourenço, who live in the village of Maxiais, province of Beirã, near the city of Castelo Branco, home of the renowned New Christian Jewish doctor Amato Lusitano (1511-1568). His mother continues the traditional New Christian occupation of weaver.Carlos has worked full time as a painter since 2007. He was won many prizes for his work. Inspired by Chagall and Anglo-Lusa painter Paula Rego, he describes his work as the “world at his bedside”. When he was nineteen, future Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago purchased two of his paintings. His next exhibition is in Paris in the fall of 2013 and Brussels in 2014.
SANDSTORM
(50 x150 cm (19.7 x 59.1) 2011 1,500 )
KING KONG
(195 x 150 cm (76.8 x 59.1) 2013 oil on canvas 4,000)
MAKING SUNS
(60 x 30 cm (23.6 x 11.8) 2013 650)
I AM OR I AM NOT
(50 x 50 (19.7 x 19.7) 2012 650)
2013/07/25
Portugal
Passes Law of Return 500 years after forced baptism
(what
does it all mean?)
by
mlopesazevedo
In
1492, on the 9th
of Tisha
B'Av,
all
Jews were expelled from Spain. Four years later, on December 4, 1496
king Manuel of Portugal ordered all Jews to leave Portugal, but in
1497, in an about face, the king ordered all Jews forcibly baptized;
only about 60 were allowed to leave the country. The king promised
the newly converted Jews that there would be no inquiries as to their private religious
practices for 20 years and no inquisition. This, in the late
professor Yerushalmi's view, created a distinct group of modern
Jews, outwardly Catholics but inwardly Jews, Jews in their hearts.
Portugal's secret Jews became know as New Christians or Marranos.
For
almost 300 years the secret Jews of Portugal who did not flee the
country were terrorized by state and Church, imprisoned, tortured,
and burned alive. Their houses, land and assets were seized by the
Inquisition. Families were torn apart. There are over 45,000
Inquisition files in the “Torro de Tombo”, Portugal's national
archives, mostly of charges against New Christians for Judaizing.
Like the Nazis, the Holy Roman Apostolic Catholic Church kept
meticulous records, a blessing in disguise. Now Historians can
minutely research the lives of thousands of New Christian Jews.
The
New Christians resisted. Many continued to secretly adhere to the
essential rituals of Judaism, observing Shabbat and dietary laws,
celebrating the high holidays, reciting prayers and fasting on
Tuesdays and Thursdays; obviously circumcision was discontinued.
Books were prohibited but they were smuggled into the country.
Sometimes New Christian “rabbis” travelled to communities in the
diaspora for instruction, such as the case of Domingos de Oliveira
the barber of Carção near Bragança, who on the pretext of
travelling to Rome to get permission to marry his cousin, went to the
well established Portuguese Jewish community of Livorno for religious
instruction. When he returned home, he formed an “irmandade”
which built a chapel and conducted “dry” mass. The resistance to
the Inquisition continued to the 20th
century as the now famous secret community of Belmonte attests.
Now,
after more than 500 years, the Portuguese national Assembly
unanimously passed a law permitting any descendant of forcibly
baptized Portuguese Jews to regain Portuguese citizenship. Although
the maxim of “justice delayed is justice denied'
is apposite, the
dramatic action by the national government is yet another step in the
long overdue recognition of Portugal's Jewish heritage.
In
1989, then president Mário Soares apologized for the Inquisition.
On the 4th
of December 1996, the National Assembly revoked the 1496 Edict of
Expulsion. And last year, Captain Barros Basto, the “Portuguese
Dreyfus” was finally rehabilitated by a unanimous vote in the
National Assembly after being condemned for leading a Marrano revival
in northern Portugal in the 1930's. In 1938, the year of
Kristallnacht, the Captain completed the Kadoorie Mekhor Haim
synagogue in Porto, one of the largest synagogues in Europe, still
standing. Finally, he and Aristides Sousa Mendes who saved many more
Jews than Schindler during World War II are now being recognized for
the heroes that they are.
What
is happening in Portugal? Is the new law of return just a ploy to
entice Jews to invest in Portugal at a time of crisis, as some
suggest? For almost 500 years the subject of Portuguese Jewishness
has been taboo in Portugal; almost like the Mafia law of
“Omerta”, imposing its law of silence on every aspect of society,
it's not discussed, it's not taught in schools, better to pretend it
does not exist. There are no national museums of Judaism or the
Inquisition, and until recently there were no local Jewish museums either.
The persecution of Jews is a a dark stain on Portuguese history. Its
consequences are imbued in the psyche of every Portuguese person as
the distinguished professor and essayist Eduardo Lourenço, resident in
France observes, “The
Inquisition is the most present, obsessive and enigmatic episode of
our collective life”.
But things are changing.
Although
the “official” version of Portuguese history ignores the Semitic
roots of its people and the great contribution of Jews to Portuguese
culture, memory and history are combining to create a new societal
dynamic in Portugal, one that remembers, values, and cherishes its
Jewish past. Five hundred years is a long time, but not long enough
to eradicate collective memory, to completely destroy the roots of a
vibrant foundation.
Until
1496, Portugal was a tolerant country where the people of the three
books lived side by side in relative harmony. Jews have lived in
Portugal before the country even existed. Portugal's first treasurer
under King Afonso in the 12th
century as the chief rabbi Ben Yahia, a tradition that continued for
hundreds of years. In the medieval period every king and queen in
Europe wanted a Portuguese doctor, Jewish of course. In the 17th
century the “men of the nation” dominated trade and commerce in
the Mediterranean; “Portuguese merchant” was a euphemism for being
Jewish.
The
enshrining of the law of return in Portuguese law is another step in
the awakening of Jewish memory in Portugal. It may also attract new
immigration and capital which is sorely needed. It could help
create a Jewish civil life for the remnants of the Jewish people,
which in Portugal encompasses a great part of the population, DNA
studies notwithstanding. After all, any taxi driver in Lisbon will
tell you that most Portuguese people have a Jewish “rib”, and
that the popular dish “alheira” is Jewish food. I rest my case.
Alheira
Fried alheira from Mirandela
Alheira
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The alheira (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈʎɐjɾɐ]) is a type of Portuguese sausage, made with meats other than pork (usually veal, duck, chicken, quail or rabbit) and bread.
Although its name derives from the Portuguese word for garlic (alho)
and was once used to describe any sausage seasoned with it, present-day
alheiras don't necessarily contain garlic (although it is still a
common ingredient).
The type of sausage currently known as "alheira" was invented by the Jews of Portugal, who were forced to convert to Christianity, as a way to deceive the Portuguese Inquisition.
Since their religion didn't allow them to eat pork, they were easily
identifiable by the fact that they didn't hang sausages in their
smokehouses (fumeiros in Portuguese). As a cover, they replaced pork with a large variety of other meats, such as poultry and game,
which would then be mixed with bread for texture. This recipe would
later spread amongst Christians, who added the ever-present pork to it."
2013/07/20
2013/07/10
CARLOS FARINHA, The Portuguese Chagall
Carlos Farinha, forty-two years old, started painting when his family returned to Portugal from France at the age of fifteen. He is the son of José Antonio Ribeiro Farinha and Maria do Carmo Rosa Lourenço, who live in the village of Maxiais, province of Beirã, near the city of Castelo Branco, home of the renowned New Christian Jewish doctor Amato Lusitano (1511-1568). His mother continues the traditional New Christian occupation of weaver.Carlos has worked full time as a painter since 2007. He was won many prizes for his work. Inspired by Chagall and Anglo-Lusa painter Paula Rego, he describes his work as the “world at his bedside”. When he was nineteen, future Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago purchased two of his paintings. His next exhibition is in Paris in the fall of 2013 and Brussels in 2014.
2013/07/09
CARLOS FARINHA
(All paintings are acrylic on canvas unless otherwise stated. All prices are in euros net of shipping costs. For more information contact, ladina.sefarad@gmail.com or the artist.)
SANDSTORM
(50 x150 cm (19.7 x 59.1) 2011 1,500 )
KING KONG
(195 x 150 cm (76.8 x 59.1) 2013 oil on canvas 4,000)
MAKING SUNS
(60 x 30 cm (23.6 x 11.8) 2013 650)
I AM OR I AM NOT
(50 x 50 (19.7 x 19.7) 2012 650)
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