The Beauty of the Family in Brazil 🇧🇷
In the heart of Brazil, family means more than just parents and kids living together. It’s a vibrant tapestry of generations sharing the same space, where children, parents, and grandparents all play their part. In this setting, the idea of personal safety takes a back seat to the collective joy of everyone coming together to nurture and enjoy the company of the younger generation.
After spending six months in Brazil…
I noticed how people everywhere seemed so happy despite a lack of luxury. Often Brazilian families live in houses that are made of simple bricks or sometimes just wooden plates.
Imagine scenes of babies being passed between siblings, everyone holding and playing with the little ones, creating a lively and caring atmosphere. At first, it might seem a bit overwhelming, but soon it becomes clear – this is the normal, warm embrace of strong family unity in Brazil.
Everyone holds and plays with the younger children, even if they’re not your own, and everyone is having a good time.
Along the lines of: It takes a village to raise a child.
Walking or driving through the towns and villages in Brazil
You see families sitting together in front of their houses right at the streets, in simple plastic chairs. Once it gets dark, all the 5 or 10 people disappear back into their house and you wonder where they’re all sleeping. These houses are barely bigger than 30 m2. We saw that people often sleep in hammocks, which saves a lot of space. During the day they mostly have their doors open, so you can see a bunch of hammocks hanging in their living room.
Seeing this made me realize how irrelevant our Western wealth and standards are. Wealth doesn’t contribute to our happiness and contentment in life. In the Western world we live mostly separately. Our children move out once they’re 18, we put the elderly in retirement homes. We let the state take care of our family.
“Only” a family to take care of you in Brazil?
“But this is great!” …I hear you say. “Our government takes care of the sick and elderly while it gives you the freedom to go to work.” My Brazilian friends on the other hand see it differently. For them, sending your family members away from home destroys the concept of the family.
People are not bothered by loud children, they embrace them. They run around free, they are loud, nobody cares. I’m the first to be bothered by loud children, but I found it very interesting that people in Brazil don’t seem to be.
Traveling through Latin America and especially Brazil helped me see another side of things. The family unit is strong, children can express their creativity, and the elderly are respected members of the family.
I want to spread my positive thoughts about this beautiful country and the amazing people living here. Brazil as well as other countries in Latin America will change your mind about anything you might have believed to be true. Not everything has to be bad just because many people are poor or uneducated. They actually have real knowledge about life and surviving and can walk through nature with you explaining how to get food, climb trees and create shelter. Can you do that?
If you want to know more about life as a perpetual traveler in Brazil, and the rest of Latin America, feel free to contact me!
PS: This blog is a sneak peek into my upcoming book about my three years of non-stop travel through Latin America. Know a publisher interested in such stories? Reach out here!
📩 Email: Alexandra@AlexandraAllover.com
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Photo credit creative commons (accessed 2022-01-17)
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