Cemitério do Campo
(Santa Bárbara do Oeste – SP)
(Santa Bárbara do Oeste – SP)
The city of “Santa Barbara d´Oeste” – Saint Barbara of the West – was originated on a farm of sugar mill, on December 4th, 1818. Its population growth started from1867 on with the North American immigrants who decided to settle there bringing new farming methods, and by planters of European origin, mainly Italians, who were dedicated to farming. Today, the flowers, the green, the development and creativity are part of the daily life of this city with over 169,735 inhabitants, that also offers an exceptional quality of life, located only 130 km away from Sao Paulo capital.
The Cemetery of the Field began in 1867 with the death of Beatrice Oliver, Colonel Oliver´s wife, one of many American immigrants who settled in this city since 1866. Colonel Oliver had a farm in the district of Campo. At that time, the cemetery of the municipality belonged to the Catholic Church, which forbade the burial of non-Catholics on that spot. Because of this ban the immigrants buried their dead in areas near their homes.
Shortly after the death of Beatrice, the colonel lost his two daughters who were also buried in the Field. Since then, he offered an area of approximately one hectare to the American families so that they could bury their dead.
Nowadays, more than 400 people are buried in this cemetery, which also has a recreation space where The American Descendants Brotherhood holds its quarterly meetings and the annual Confederate Party Brazil-United States. For all of this, the cemetery became an American Community´s reference and receives visitors from several parts of the country and abroad.
To reach the Cemetery of the Field, one can follow the dirt roads in the middle of the sugarcane plots, in the limits of rural areas belonging to the cities of Americana and Saint Barbara of the West. It is located in the Neighborhood of Field – “Bairro do Campo” on Bandeirantes Avenue “Avenida dos Bandeirantes” , accessed by Barreirinho Road – “Estrada do Barreirinho”.
This is a kind of rural cemetery where we find lots of trees that shadow tombs arranged in scattered blocks covering an area of 2,000 m². It is administered by the American Descendants Brotherhood, an entity that assembles the third and fourth generations of Americans descendants who have settled in the region since 1866. This is a civil association whose aims are: maintenance of the patrimony of the cemetery, publish the history of the immigration and encourage “friendship, philanthropy and mutual cooperation among the descendants” (Gussi, 1996).
The immigrants – Southern Americans – found in Saint Barbara the hope of a better future. The construction of the Cemetery of the Field, by Colonel Oliver, symbolizes the consolidation of this group of people in Brazil and this is registered in the Memorial Obelisk, where we find the the names of relatives of the first united Americans descendants.
The Cemetery of the Field has become for the Americans descendants in Brazil a space for the memories of the dead and also a place to recreate the American identities , things that are reaffirmed during the quarterly meetings and the Confederate Party Brazil-United States, held annually in April. When these festivals occur the Southern ideals of the War of Secession are strategically rescued by the Americans descendants.
The tombstones are distributed in a very particular way: Each family member tries to buy a space for his own tombstone near his relatives who are already buried. This assembly contributes a lot to the reconstruction of an idealized and segregated past which justifies the continuing valorization of the American Descendant families.
Cemetery is a cultural institution of the Western society. The preservation of its heritage is one way to legitimize it, as well as artistics and cultural activities carried on in situ.
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