Happy Birthday, Maringá!

Today is the celebration of Maringá’s 61st Birthday! I hear that the actual birthday was Saturday, but the celebrations are today. There was a parade in town in honor of the day.

I was really impressed by the parade. Pretty much every part of the city was represented from ethic groups to sports clubs. I saw Japan, Germany, Ukraine, and Peru all represented. There were clubs for table tennis, baseball, softball, ping pong, futebol (big surprise there), ballet and what looked to be the Brazilian version of scouts. There were some beautiful floats and classic cars. I think every automobile in the city was included. There were even city busses and city maintenance vehicles.

I started thinking about 61 years and how young Maringá is as a city. Sixty-one years is nothing. My parents and grandparents couldn’t have even spent their entire lives here.

It makes you think about what was here before. Yes, probably trees, but I’m speaking more specifically. I know the cathedral played a big part in the city, but how did the city start? Was it just a few buildings for several years and start as a very small town? Had it always been here and was just recognized as a city by the government 61 years ago?

These are things that I’ve never really thought about a city before. I’m just used to being in one that is so old that none of these types of questions come to mind. I mean, you think about how things started, but know that it was a long, long time ago.

For Maringá it wasn’t so long ago. Happy Birthday to my home-for-now!