A Brief History of Penedo - By Talitha Square ('Nose of India' - Maio-Junho/98). Finnish immigration to Penedo, then district of Resende, bascamente differs from the others who come to Brazil. They do not seek here the Nordic material wealth, not 'do' Brazil, as was common to the Iberian peoples, do not leave their land for political persecution or fleeing religious or racial neuroses. They are, at the time, people from a defined position in Finland, agricultural technicians, experts in architecture design, builders, gymnasts, farmers, massage therapists, teachers and others. They live a life without major difficulties materials, among friends and family. They are Protestant-Lutheran roots. Merry, in groups, get together and sing their songs natal and hymns. Sensitive, play musical instruments, piano, violin, organ, 'kantele' (a kind of zither). Play and sing. This immigration leads a visionary - a poet - agricultural, scholar of soil, plants, nature, person highly mystic, a faith as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ' This man is Toivo Uuskallio. Sit by the spirit he sent to other lands, the South, where they could live closer to nature and working groups. Charismatic leader, as he traces the journey of seeking supporters to his cause of immigration and it has the support of the Lutheran pastor Pennanem. Meetings, debates, proposals, and part of a small group of five Finns, coming to Rio de Janeiro in 1927. With him comes his wife Liisa, strong personality, which will become mainstay in the colony, and more Frans Fagerlund, Enok Nyberg and Eino Kajander. Marvel at the natural beauty of Rio, settle into a German pension at Brook Street, enroll in school to learn Portuguese at Berlitz crash course. Already with a minimum basic vocabulary, traveling by train to Barra Mansa, where, by appointment of the manager of the pension, they will all work in the Three Wells Farm, owned by the Monastery of St. Benedict. Barra Mansa is just making acquaintance with the land, but the main objective is to seek a proper place to purchase property in the community and putting into practice their ideals. In 1929, after passing through Itatiaia and visit farms in Sao Paulo, Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, appeal to the Fazenda Penedo, also owned by the Monastery of St. Benedict. Close to Town, 3. 500 acres, 2. 000 forest, pure water, cut by streams, various altitudes, allowing cultivation of tropical plants and European built its own headquarters and can accommodate those who came, this was the place. Buy Farm to Penedo. The pastor encourages Pennanem Finland the coming of more fans. The newspapers reported in 1929 and now reaches a second group. Later disembark most Finns, received at the pier with songs and roses. Still others come later, with the colony already fixed. The Benedictines had explored the land with coffee, exploitation of firewood and charcoal, and with the fall of coffee, cattle. Hence the hills became grazing and there was no trace of the surrounding rainforest. (...) The soil on the plain was drained, and the ants exterminated all. And there were the mosquitoes, floods, tropical unexpected. It is necessary to rebuild the soil and persists. Fight against all Finns to find products possible to plant the land worked: corn, sweet potatoes, vegetables, flowers and even bananas. Toivo Suni, already in the colony, built in 1930, the first house as a model to others. Suni will be highlighted later as a great artist, after the arrival in 1948, the Czech painter Ian Zach, who is established in the colony to resign from the post of cultural attaché of your country.