Qualla: Crucilandia https://qualla.com/crucilandia en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/7/h/2/k/crucilandia-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Crucilandia https://qualla.com/crucilandia Crucilandia: Introduction https://qualla.com/crucilandia/ Photo credit Célio G. Carvalho Diniz, CC BY-SA 4.0. Some towns change names the way others change decades. Crucilandia, in the hills southwest of Belo Horizonte, has been called at least six different things in the last two centuries - Barra, Campo das Flores, Gamba, Santa Cruz das Aguas Claras, Dom Silverio, and finally, since a 1943 decree, the hybrid Latin-Germanic coinage that means simply Land of the Cross. Seven thousand six hundred people live there today, on 167 square kilometers of rolling hills 97 kilometers from the state capital. The town is small enough that its river and its patron saint share a lineage, and large enough to have held onto its festivals through eighty years of modernization.

Read more: Crucilandia on Qualla

Image: Célio G. Carvalho Diniz | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/h/2/k/crucilandia-wp/7h2k-crucilandia-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Crucilandia: The Cross by the Clear Stream https://qualla.com/crucilandia/ Photo credit Célio G. Carvalho Diniz, CC BY-SA 4.0. The earliest plausible origin story involves Fernao Dias Paes Leme, the legendary Paulista bandeirante who led an expedition through these hills around 1674 looking for emeralds. Two members of that expedition, Portuguese settlers from Alcobaca, are said to have stayed behind on ...

Read more: Crucilandia on Qualla

Image: Célio G. Carvalho Diniz | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/h/2/k/crucilandia-wp/7h2k-crucilandia-the-cross-by-the-clear-stream.mp3 0:06 2 full Crucilandia: Gamba, and Other Names https://qualla.com/crucilandia/ Photo credit Célio G. Carvalho Diniz, CC BY-SA 4.0. Among the town's earlier names is one the municipal historians mention with some embarrassment: Gamba, meaning opossum in Portuguese. It was a popular, slightly pejorative nickname based on the behavior of some of the earliest inhabitants - probably a joke at the expense of the s...

Read more: Crucilandia on Qualla

Image: Célio G. Carvalho Diniz | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/h/2/k/crucilandia-wp/7h2k-crucilandia-gamba-and-other-names.mp3 0:06 3 full Crucilandia: Emancipation and the River That Feeds Belo Horizonte https://qualla.com/crucilandia/ Photo credit Célio G. Carvalho Diniz, CC BY-SA 4.0. Political emancipation came five years later. On December 27, 1948 Crucilandia became an independent municipality, separating from Bonfim under State Law 336. The first mayor, Moacir Flores, was appointed. A few months later voters elected Ronan Gumercindo de Souza as the first p...

Read more: Crucilandia on Qualla

Image: Célio G. Carvalho Diniz | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/h/2/k/crucilandia-wp/7h2k-crucilandia-emancipation-and-the-river-that-feeds-belo-horizon.mp3 0:06 4 full Crucilandia: Festivals, Cavalcades, and Ox Carts https://qualla.com/crucilandia/ Photo credit Célio G. Carvalho Diniz, CC BY-SA 4.0. The patron saint's feast, Dia da Santa Cruz, falls on May 3 and still draws crowds. The Feast of Saint Gerard on October 16 is a smaller but devoted celebration. Twice a year - in January and October - the town hosts the Encontro de Folias de Reis, a gathering of Three Kings folk...

Read more: Crucilandia on Qualla

Image: Célio G. Carvalho Diniz | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/h/2/k/crucilandia-wp/7h2k-crucilandia-festivals-cavalcades-and-ox-carts.mp3 0:06 5 full Crucilandia: Climate and the Rainy Summer https://qualla.com/crucilandia/ Photo credit Célio G. Carvalho Diniz, CC BY-SA 4.0. The climate is the classic Cwa of the Koppen classification - highland tropical with hot rainy summers and mild dry winters. Annual average temperature is 21.8 degrees Celsius. February is the warmest month at 23.2; July the coolest at 18.2. About 1,272 millimeters of rain fall e...

Read more: Crucilandia on Qualla

Image: Célio G. Carvalho Diniz | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/h/2/k/crucilandia-wp/7h2k-crucilandia-climate-and-the-rainy-summer.mp3 0:06 6 full