LuminousLuciano

Born in the Age of Aquarius, destined to seek out truths in many an art form, trained as a historian and a journalist but truly a prose-lover... Luciano is out to dispel any clichs and reinvent them all both to the tune of a little something called the truth as also to his own image - being old-fashioned, he does not mind that distinction one infinitesimal tiny bit at all...! "There are two ways to spread the light; be the candle... or the mirror that reflects It." I have chosen to be the latter... ok? "To be not only a seeker of light... but a dream weaver of light ~*~" - as surely as the moon reflects the light from the sun, you and I can reflect the Light from Above - and be, indeed, the light of this world! *~*

I am a citizen of the world; no more, no less! Born in Canada, of European ancestry, my roots are in Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria - and if one goes back far enough, the Holy Land...! I bear a proud and quite unique name too: Pimentel!

The name Pimentel is found originally in Portugal and Spain, many centuries ago. There is a coat-of-arms which depicts red chiles on a green field, and green chiles on a red field. We were apparently Spice traders by profession. Jewish people often were involved in import-export commerce such as the spice trade, and so the name Pimentel is believed to have originated among the Jewish community at some point in time, when the Jewish immigration towards Portugal and Spain occurred. They often partnered with Spanish, Arab, and Portuguese merchants and the business name became their de facto name as well. The earlier version of our name apparently was Pimentious, a name born in Roman times, many believe, and affixed to these very same daring entrepreneurial Jewish spice-trading merchants. During the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition, an option was given to many Jews and Arabs in Lusitania; go colonize those islands such as the Canaries and the spectacular Açores Islands (from which I am descended of) and you may keep your faith a low key secret and then, perhaps, avoid conversion, prison or a grisly painful death. Many took this option, not surprisingly. On the island of Terceira, there is even a village named Porto Judeo; evidence enough that this is where they landed indeed. And the rest is history.

We, Pimentels, are a proud name of traders, seafarers and adventurers. So, don't be so surprised to find that we have spread our name to India, the Phillippines, Macao, Latin America, Africa and beyond...! By the way, the name is pronounced PEA-MÈNE-TELL; this is mentioned for the benefit of the French-speakers that may be reading this, mostly...! Anywhere else in the world, the name gets to be pronounced correctly from the very initial exchange.
Thank you for reading!

Sempre Por O Melhor!
+++