Personagens de culto: os grandes mitos de Portugal na colônia

Abstract

The collective imagination of the Portuguese community in Brazil is fillcd with symbols which reinforce its nacional identity. ln thc course of che last century, some important namcs in Porcugal's history and contemporary life carne to be regardcd as true "cult figu­res". Thus, Afonso Henriques and Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira peoplc the sarne symbolic space as active personalicies like António José de Almeida and Gago Coutinho. Besides these figure, which are consensually accepted by che whole communicy of immigrants, there are ochcrs who define clear political srances, such as Salazar, consecrated by che right wing, and Norton de Matos, one of the personalicies chosen by che left wing. The objeccive of chis paper is to oucline the trajectory of chese myths, relating them to the typification of what it means "to be Portuguese" in the immigrants' mind.