About the Stamp
The postage stamp synthesizes the representation of the Caiçara of Brazil through a photograph. The photo was taken in perspective from top to bottom and two caiçara canoes on the banks of the water, preserved on land. The green canoe has entangled fishing nets on it and on the blue one is possible to see the paddle and several fishes out and inside the bucket. A fisherman is handling the container, and to his left, in the water, is another fishing net. The postage stamp frame has a light blue contrasting with the image. The technique used was photography.
The villages and Caiçara populations of Brazil
The Caiçara, inhabitant of the coastal areas of Southeast and South of Brazil, today delimited by the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina, is a culturally differentiated group and is recognized as such, still maintaining its ancestral practices in the traditional territory that it has occupied since colonization times, still configuring itself in green areas and protected biomes, true sanctuaries of preservation, resulting from this secular culture-nature relationship.
The Caiçara personifies the rich miscegenation between the native peoples, the Portuguese colonizers and, later, the African black people, from whom, inheriting knowledge of the land, the sea, the forest and knowledge of the sky, reproduces in its day-to-day a constant way of living, exposed in its social, religious, economic and cultural practices and, among others, in the know-how of the Canoa Caiçara, in the festivities of the Folia de Reis, in the religiosity of the Romaria do Divino Espírito Santo, in the dance circles of the Ciranda Caiçara and in the Fandango Caiçara itself, which, in 2012, was recognized as a Cultural Heritage of Brazil.
Knowledge, practices, plantations, fishing, cooking, medicines, prayers and cures, a particular way of expressing themselves, of playing and singing, of experiencing musicality, religiosity and their festivities, is the simple way of life, people of the land, people of the sea, the Caiçara redesigns aspects of its culture in modern times, keeping itself alive in its way of being and thinking.
It is a mystical force governed by traditional rules passed on orally by those who lived before that make the Caiçara, in its territory, find the courage to face the needs imposed by modernity and the passing of the years, in struggles that range from the recognition and reaffirmation of its cultural identity, issues of real estate speculation, predatory fishing, irresponsible tourism, mistaken environmental legislation, in short, resistance related to staying in their own territory and maintaining their own culture.
They resist celebrating, providing cassava flour, fishing mullet, catching crab, drinking Cataia, bathing in the river and the sea. It is the Caiçara, recognized Traditional People and Community of Brazil.
“WE CAIÇARAS UNITED IN THE FIGHT
RECOGNIZED, WE WANT RESPECT
OUR PAST IS OUR CONDUCT
THAT’S WHY WE KNOW HOW IT’S DONE.
WHOEVER COMES FROM OUTSIDE, HAS OTHER VALUES
WANTING TO CHANGE OUR OPINION
BUT, WE STAND STRONG, AS USUAL
WE KEEP OUR TRADITION ALIVE”
José Carlos Muniz
The development of the stamp “As vilas e populações caiçaras do Brasil” (“The villages and caiçaras populations of Brazil”) happened collaboratively from the beginning. The very definition of the theme by the National Philatelic Commission (Comissão Filatélica Nacional) is the result of a proposal presented by the population through the channel “Your idea can become a stamp”. Then, through the Paisagens Caiçaras project, in a partnership between Correios, IPHAN and UFPR, the process of selecting images on the theme also prioritized social participation, through a public call for sending visual arts works that was aimed especially at communities of natives and residents of the Caiçara territory.
From this perspective of collaborative work, which sought to mobilize views from within this geographical territory and, at the same time, symbolic, several expressions of those who experience the Caiçara culture in their daily lives were gathered. A poetic production that contributes to the very process of construction and dynamic circulation of multiple caiçara identities.
A total of 48 people signed up and sent their works to the project, forming a set of 246 images that, for the most part, correspond to photographs, and in a smaller number, use other techniques such as painting, engraving, drawing and digital collage. From this set, 223 works by 42 authors were qualified and analyzed by a curatorship team integrated by educators, fandangueiros, community leaders and cultural managers of the Caiçara territory, as well as professors and researchers from the Federal University of Paraná – UFPR, and technicians from the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage – Iphan.
The very formation of the curatorship team responded to a demand for protagonism and recognition of the caiçaras, with the expansion of social participation in all stages of construction of this collaborative process. To this end, dialogue was established in the Caiçara territory with the support of technicians from Iphan’s Regional Superintendencies, initiating cooperation work also at an institutional level that could be maintained and expanded as other actions to safeguard, recognize and preserve the heritage cultural events take place in their communities.
As there are many looks at this cultural landscape, which mixes forest, sea and mountains, the villages and populations that live there and cohabit the natural environment with a great biodiversity, an exhibition with the same title is contributed to the launch of this special stamp, made from the selection of a set of 25 works sent to the public call, within the scope of the Paisagens Caiçaras project. Thus, the cultural diversity present in the Caiçara territory, with many and rich knowledges and practices, is celebrated.
José Carlos Muniz (Paranaguá, Guaraqueçaba, Barra do Ararapira - PR), Cléber Rocha Chiquinho (Cananéia - SP), Camila Souza Quelhas (Director of Culture of Bertioga - SP), Leila da Conceição (Praia do Sono Community Leadership / Paraty - RJ), Ronaldo Corrêa (Professor of the Design Course at UFPR), Yasmin Fabris (Professor of the Design Course at UFPR), Lia Ono (Technician of the Iphan Superintendence in Paraná), Rafael Boeing (Technician of the Iphan Superintendence in Paraná), André Bazzanella (Iphan-SP), Marycléa Neves (Iphan-SP), Carla Cruz (Iphan-SC) and Rafael Nascimento (Iphan-RJ)
Technical Details
Stamp issue N. 10
Photo: Daniel Chapaval
Co-author: Mariana Balduzzi
Art-finishing: Lidia Marina Hurovich Neiva - Correios
Print system: offset
Paper: gummed chalky paper
Sheet with 12 stamps
Facial value: R$ 2.35
Issue: 96,000 stamps
Design area: 40 x 30mm
Stamp dimensions: 40 x 30mm
Perforation: 11.5 x 12
Date of issue: July 1st, 2022
Place of issue: Guaraqueçaba/PR
Printing: Brazilian Mint