Posted by Rachel
In Brazil, there’s no such thing as Thanksgiving, but it’s useful to know vocabulary about your own culture so that you can share it with your friends in Portuguese. It’s much easier to explain something foreign when you know the right words. Let’s take a look: 
holiday = feriado
Thanksgiving Day = Dia de Ação de Graças
turkey = peru
cranberry sauce = molho de oxicoco
pumpkin pie = torta de abóbora
mashed potatoes = puré de batata
sweet potato = batata doce
stuffing = recheio
Piligrims = peregrinos/colonos/colonos americanos
Native Americans = índios/indígenas
parade = desfile/parada
Posted by Rachel
Today’s U.S. Labor Day, gente, so regular posts will continue tomorrow.
Here’s a quick quiz for you though, if you happen to be checking in to Portuguese Blog today: When is Brazilian Labor Day, and what is it called in Portuguese?
Today is also Independence Day in Brazil, a national holiday. Feliz Aniversário, Brasil!
Posted by Rachel
Happy New Year’s, everyone!
Posted by Rachel
Today is Saci Day in Brazil, which celebrates the Brazilian folkloric figure Saci. The Society of Saci Observers 
chose October 31st on purpose to coincide with Halloween, since they want to promote Brazilian folklore and ensure that Brazilians celebrate their own culture.
Saci Pererê, as he is known, is a mythical figure in Brazilian folklore. Originally, an indigenous boy who had two legs and liked to play practical jokes on others, like putting salt in people’s food and pulling on a horses’ tails. Later, when African slavery in Brazil began, the legend changed. Now, Saci is known for being a young one-legged black man who wears a red cap and smokes a pipe. He’s not an evil character, but rather a jokester who likes pulling pranks. He’s also a solitary figure who lives alone in the forest.
According to the Saci Society, this altered version of Saci represented a slave who yearned for freedom and escaped from a plantation during the colonization period in Brazil.
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