Idioma:

Another great CAFIB success!!!

In texts relating to other Analyses and Exhibitions of Fila Brasileiro in Três Corações (MG), we have already mentioned the importance of the south of the Minas Gerais State in the determination of significant breeds of domestic animals, such as the Caracu cattle and the Mangalarga Marchador horse, in addition to, of course, the Fila Brasileiro Dog. Also in the context of the determination of Brazilian equine breeds, it is worth remembering that, nearby, in Entre Rios de Minas, breed Campolina was constituted, fruit of the selection started by Cassiano Campolina (1836-1904) and improved by Joaquim Pacheco de Resende and by Colonel Gabriel de Andrade, whose official entity, Associação Brasileira dos Criadores de Cavalo Campolina (ABCCC) (Brazilian Association of the Campolina Horse Breeders), founded in 1951, is headquartered in Belo Horizonte.

It has also become customary, in these circular letters, for us to remark on curiosities and picturesque facts about the region in which the event is held. The big impulse towards the development of Três Corações is attributed to the visit of the Royal family (Dom Pedro II and entourage), in 1884, to sound the first whistle of the locomotive of the then “Minas and Rio Railway”, a company with headquarters in London, England’s capital, at the time of the inauguration of the Minas-Rio Railroad of Rio Verde, connecting Cruzeiro (SP) to the then called Três Corações do Rio Verde (MG). The previous year, accompanied by Empress Tereza Cristina, by Princess Isabel, by Count D'Eu, by his grandchildren (Princess Dona Leopoldina’s children), in addition to several other politicians and officials of the Empire, Dom Pedro II had already opened the Tunnel of Mantiqueira, considered one of the crucial points of the railway.

This area in southern Minas Gerais, which includes the towns of Varginha, Três Corações, Itanhandu, Lavras, Elói Mendes, Carmo da Cachoeira, São Thomé das Letras and so many others — travelled in the 40’s by the lawyer Paulo Santos Cruz and, as of the end of the 70’s, by us from CAFIB, with the objective of searching for specimens of old lineages of the Fila Brasileiro-, could be called the “Polygon of Fila” and is lavish in curious stories.

Several regions in the world are enfolded by a mystic aura and were stage of mysteries unexplained to this day. One of the most emblematical examples is that of the so-called “Triangle of the Bermudas”, an area of the Atlantic Ocean among the Bermuda Islands, Florida and Puerto Rico, where several airplanes and ships have disappeared. Skeptics attribute these disappearances to climatic phenomena and natural causes; some scholars blame methane gas emissions from the bottom of the oceans or the presence of strange magnetic fields; and, evidently, the ones with the fanciest imagination find explanations in the activities of aliens, in the effects of crystals from the kingdom of Atlantis and in migration to other dimensions. But the mystery continues.

At this place, which I called “Polygon of Fila”, the city of Varginha stands out, cradle of the first Filas acquired by Paulo Santos Cruz so many decades ago. In the mystic scope, the peaceful city became internationally known as of 1996, when three girls affirmed having seen a strange being from another world, very short, with red eyes and with bulges on the head. From there on, the stories on the appearance of quaint creatures kept growing, including unidentified flying objects and mysterious deaths in the region that started being widely disclosed by UFO publications in several countries. In that same year, a São Paulo pilot reported having sighted the fall of something like a spaceship at some point between Varginha and Três Corações. While trying to look into it, he was admired to see that the wreck of the object had already been surrounded by members of the Army and the Military Police, who, harshly, would have ordered him away from there. At the same time, the Varginha’s Fire Department received several telephone calls from people scared with the presence of a “strange animal” hanging about an area of the woods. Several witnesses affirm having seen the arrival, at the site, of a truck from the School of Sergeants of the Arms (EsSA) of Três Corações, from which several armed military had come out with machine guns, going into the dense vegetation. Shortly afterwards, a racket of shots was heard and, after that, the soldiers came out of the bushes carrying some large bags, inside which something was still moving. This load was placed in the truck, which left for unknown destination. A short time later, the Zoo of Varginha registered some strange animal deaths. Technicians performed the autopsy and sent samples of the material to Belo Horizonte, where a laboratory accused the presence of an unidentified toxic-caustic substance.

Since the city explores its UFO mysteries in good mood, statues representing ETs are placed in public areas. Beside one of them, in the center of the city, in 2001, an enormous water tank was inaugurated in UFO format. The site of a tourist magazine was considered the second ugliest monument of Brazil, behind only the hideous statue of the bandeirante Borba Gato, in São Paulo neighborhood of Santo Amaro. In 2008, Varginha’s Secretary of Tourism prepared the project of a monument called “ET Memorial”, whose budget surpassed R$ 1 million, with the objective to settle there a large UFO museum (and whose inauguration, many times postponed, turned into a real soap opera). Beside it, it was installed a 13 meter high metal frame, in rocket format, which is actually a water tank with capacity for up to 20 thousand liters, intended to supply the memorial.

The mystics and esoteric believe that cities of southern Minas Gerais, especially those nearby Serra da Mantiqueira, represent the cosmic core of the planet, from which doors open up to the Age of Aquarius, which is the beginning of a new civilization, free of material and moral miseries. Aiuruoca, Carmo de Minas, Conceição do Rio Verde, Itanhandu, Maria da Fé, Pouso Alto and São Thomé das Letras are considered sacred, as people claim that these seven municipalities constitute the seven chakras (or places of power, or magnetic centers, or energy vortexes on Earth) that synthesize their vibrations in São Lourenço, city of medicinal waters and “Spiritual Capital of the New Millennium”. So, the headquarters of the Brazilian Theosophical Society – currently Brazilian Society of Eubiose -, were installed in São Lourenço, dedicated to the study of the occult, kabalistic activities and activities of many other religions, especially spiritism. Philosophers, or eubiotics, consider that São Lourenço will be the cradle of Avatar Maytrea, a synthesis of the seven previous avatars, of which the last was Yehoshua Ben Pandira (called by Catholics as Jesus Christ and by the Jews, the Messiah).

Among these cities, the great highlight is São Thomé das Letras, founded by Portuguese immigrant João Francisco Junqueira (1727-1819), born in Garrida, in the Parish of Junqueira, Vila do Conde, and who, having reached Brazil around 1750, settled down on Fazenda Campo Alegre, at the banks of the Verde River, district of Encruzilhada, today Cruzília. The seventh of his eleven children, Gabriel Francisco Junqueira (1782-1868), who inherited the headquarters of Campo Alegre, was extremely educated and stylish, having received from Dom Pedro II the noble title of Baron of Alfenas. The establishment of the Mangalarga Marchador horses is owed to him and, when he passed away, he was buried, as its father, in São Thomé das Letras, in a crypt underneath the altar of the First Church of São Thomé Apóstolo - erected in 1785, and with paintings attributed to the most skillful artist Joaquim José da Natividade, master painter of Minas Gerais rococó period and disciple of Antônio Francisco Lisboa, known as “Aleijadinho” (1730-1814) -, where João Francisco, years before, had built a chapel.

Legend has it that, on Fazenda Campo Alegre, slave João Antão would have fallen in love with the boss's daughter and, fearing being killed for it, he fled the property and started living hidden in one of the many caves existing in the region, feeding on wild fruits, hunting and fishing. One day, when he woke up, he stumbled upon a very handsome old man, dressed in white and enfolded by a strong light, to whom the slave told the story of his escape. The apparition, then, handed him an envelope, ordering him to take it to the boss, who would forgive him and grant him his freedom. Accepting the order immediately, João Antão took the correspondence to the Baron, who after reading it, was very impressed with the quality of the paper, the accuracy of the style and elegance of the letter, which led him to pardon the fugitive and organize a visit to the cave. Once there, he found only a wooden sculpture depicting the apostle São Thomé, which he took home. Shortly after, the statue disappeared from the farm and reappeared in the cave, a phenomenon that was repeated several times, until the Baron's wife asked him to build a chapel on the site to shelter and worship the saint.

In São Thomé das Letras, the visitor is soon wrapped by mystical environment also due to the presence of many alternative communities and a representation of the order of eubiose. The city is home to Fundação Harmonia de Artes e Conhecimentos Transcendentais, which provides holistic therapies and offers Rune Reading, Chromotherapy, Crystaltherapy, Shamanic Handoff, Reiki, Karuna Reiki, Rainbow Reiki, Dowsing and Radionics, under the allegation of working for planetary awareness expansion, experiencing an ecumenical proposal marked by Existentialism (?! whatever that means?).

Between the various mysterious attractions of the city are Gruta do Carimbado, already visited by technicians, researchers, and television stations, which have tried to explore it to the end, but they never managed to get farther than 15 kilometers, because the thin air and the local high temperature prevented the continuation of these excursions. Many believe that this is an underground passage opened by members of past civilizations, such as the Incas, who would have discovered, through astral mapping, the city of São Thomé das Letras. The tunnel would be a link between the Minas Gerais town and pre-Colombian Machu Picchu, in Peru, 4 thousand kilometers away and would explain the mysterious disappearance of these ancient Andean people. Some claim that the site is a portal for access to other dimensions and there are also those that attribute them to the implementation of the underground path to the enlightened residents of an intra-earthly community.

One of the known local legends refers to a huge snake, with beak and crest, which sings like a rooster at dawn and rises like the najas to pounce on victims. But perhaps the most popular mystery is that of the famous Ladeira do Amendoim, where unrestrained cars, rather than plummeting downhill, glide upwards as if there the gravity force were reversed.

As well as in Varginha, residents of São Thomé das Letras demonstrate good humor in relation to mysticism and, outside some of the many shops that sell esoteric articles - full of a huge variety of sculptures and paintings of mandalas, elves, gnomes, sorcerers and witches -, can be viewed plates with witty sayings, like: “Park your flying saucer here.”

Perhaps, in fact, a poor family boy, officially born in Três Corações, in the year 1940, baptized as Édson Arantes do Nascimento and celebrated all over the planet with the simple nickname of Pelé, has also come from another world (or assimilated an overdose of cosmic energy). Considered the greatest soccer player in history, a list of his achievements would not fit in this text, but it is worth remembering that the fantastic player presented extraordinary technical, physical, tactic and intuitive superiority, with lung capacity way above average, in addition to the impressive muscular mass, which allowed him to reach outstanding speed and impulse, demonstrating incredible precision of kicks and passes, with both feet, as he was ambidextrous, beyond the notable ability to dribble and to pitch. Exhaustively studied by physical and medical professionals, as well as physicians and physiotherapists, it was found that the rates achieved by Pelé, in several athletic modalities, were close to world-wide records. He ran 100 meters in 11 seconds, jumped 1.80 meter in height, 6.50 meters in distance and, even although he was of a medium stature (1.73m), his vertical leap was equivalent to that of giant Michael Jordan (1.98m), since both unfurled the feet from the ground at a distance of 48 inches, or 121.92 cm. Shep Messing, goal keeper of the New York Cosmos in the 70’s, and today sports commentator, was Pelé’s team colleague and affirms, perplex, that he, “as an athlete, was a physiological aberration”. Pelé himself believed that his main differential was the peripheral vision, which allowed him to foresee what the adversaries would do and, as a result,  anticipate his decisions. His field of vision encompassed an amazing radius of 220 degrees, thus providing him with the capacity of practically seeing everything that went on around him, until almost from the back of his head.

After this already long preamble, I allow myself to get back to the 3^rd Exhibition of the Fila Brasileiro, promoted by CAFIB in Três Corações, on August 27, 2017, at Parque de Exposições Vale do Rio Verde. The event was organized by breeders Átila Luis Branquinho Dias (Kennel Barão dos Filas), Marcus Flávio Vilas Boas Moreira (Kennel Guardiães do Caracu) and Pedro Yuri Ramos Avelar da Silva (Kennel of the Pyra). As usual, the works started in the morning, with the accomplishment of the Analysis of Phenotype and Temperament, to which seven dogs attended, evaluated by judges Airton judges Campbell (São Paulo, SP), Giovani Éder de Carvalho (Aparecida, SP), Luciano José de Almeida Gavião (Descalvado, SP), Marcus Flávio Vilas Boas Moreira (Belo Horizonte, MG), Mariana Campbell (São Paulo, SP) and Pedro Carlos Borotti (Porto Ferreira, SP). Of the seven dogs analyzed, five were approved and two were rejected because they presented a disqualifying reaction upon the temperament test. In the Exhibition, which relied on 42 specimens, males were judged by Fabiano Gonçalves Nunes (Guaratinguetá, SP) and females by Américo Cardoso dos Santos Jr. (Vargem Grande Paulista, SP). Secretarial work was under the care of Cleide Maria Cocito Cardoso dos Santos, Denise Gavião and Mariana Campbell. The veterinarian responsible veterinarian was Luciano Gavião and the tests to evaluate temperament and nervous system were made by the competent “experiment” Hélder José Rodrigues.

The exhibition was honored by breeders, exhibitors and fans of the Fila Brasileiro from the São Paulo cities of Aparecida, Biritiba Mirim, Descalvado, Guaratinguetá, Jacareí, Porto Ferreira, São Paulo and Vargem Grande Paulista; and from the Minas Gerais city of Três Corações itself, as well as Aiuruoca, Belo Horizonte, Boa Esperança, Campo Belo, Conceição do Rio Verde, Contagem, Formiga, Igaratinga, Itanhandu, Nepomuceno, Nova Serrana and São Gonçalo of Pará.

In this 3^rd Exhibition of the Fila Brasileiro in Três Corações, of  the 42 Filas on the track, 7 were brindled (16.6%). A few years ago, from the beginning of this decade, this coloring has become increasingly rare and, in some exhibitions we no longer saw any brindled specimen. In order to encourage the participation of dogs with this coat, and even avoid its extinction, in 2015, during the 100^th National Exhibition of CAFIB in Guaratinguetá (SP), at the suggestion of our honorary judge, Francisco Peltier de Queiroz, we rewarded the Best Brindle of the Exhibition with the Cafibra Trophy, name of the kennel registered by him, in 1974, at the then BKC. Because of the great impact of this initiative, as of 2016, the choice of the best brindled - less than 1 year old and over 1 year old - became permanent and the award was renamed Chico Peltier Trophy.

The main awards at this exhibition were:

• BEST MALE: Sultão Recanto do Livramento, owned by Felício Unello (Biritiba Mirim, SP)
• BEST FEMALE: Baiúca do Balacobaco, owned by Flávio Pires (Jacareí, SP)
• BEST TEMPERAMENT: Baiúca do Balacobaco, owned by Flávio Pires (Jacareí, SP)
• BEST HEAD: Bela do Itanhandu, owned by Cíntia and Gérson Junqueira de Barros (Itanhandu, MG)
• BEST BRINDLE (less than 1 year): Samba IV Guardiães do Caracu, owned by Átila Luis Branquinho Dias (Três Corações, MG)
• BEST BRINDLE (over 1 year): Quizar Recanto do Livramento, owned by José Wilson Vilela (Campo Belo, MG)

The complete result of the 3^rd Exhibition of Fila Brasileiro in Três Corações can be accessed on CAFIB’s, www.cafibbrasil.com