Pomeranian Festival

Located in the Valley of Itajaí (a.k.a. the European Valley) in Santa Catarina, Pomerode is a small town with just over 25000 inhabitants. Quiet and charming, is renowned for its traditions, natural beauty and excellent quality of life. For over a century, the city preserves the cultural traits inherited from the colonizers, who came mostly from Pomerania, a region in northern Germany.
Pomerode boasts of being “the most German city located in Southern Brazil”, because the vast majority of its inhabitants are of German descent and most everyone who lives in Pomerode speaks Portuguese, but the majority also speak German.
In the city itself there are many who speak High German, but in the interior most speak Pomerisch. Some people see Pomerisch as a form of Platt Deutsch, or Low German. It is, in fact, not a dialect of German, but a Germanic Language. In efforts to preserve their language, there is a Pomeranian-Portuguese dictionary. The Pomerisch – Portugíísisch Wöirbauk contains around 15,000 entries. It is estimated that there are between 250,000 and 600,000 Pomerisch speakers in Brazil today.

Pomeranian Festival is in January, in 2016 will start at Jan 14th until 24th, as part of the celebration of the founding of Pomerode. They are expecting 50,000 visitors during the 10 days of the festival. The festival itself is about all things German – folk groups and bands presentations, typical Germanic dances, typical German cuisine, arts and crafts, cultural presentations, target shooting and other traditional competitions, and, of course, beer.