Trindade is a city and municipality in Goiás state, Brazil. It is famous for the religious celebrations held there in July and is now the third most important pilgrimage site in Brazil.
Trindade is part of the Goiânia Microregion, which has over one million six hundred thousand inhabitants. It is located approximately 30 km. west of Goiânia, to which it is connected by a four lane highway, GO-060.
Although Trindade became a city in 1943, its origins go back to 1840, when, according to local folklore, in a small village called Barro Preto Constantino Xavier and his wife Ana Rosa found in their fields a small clay medallion showing the Holy Trinity crowning the Virgin Mary.
Soon a palm covered chapel was raised to be later replaced by a mortar chapel covered with tiles. Lands were donated by local farmers and a religious shrine began to take form.
Followers decided to embellish the simple clay medallion and it was taken to Pirenópolis to be worked on by the greatest artist of the region. The original clay medallion returned to Trindade substituted by a wooden representation and that is what is seen by pilgrims today in the main church.
In January 2005 the mayor was George Moraes Ferreira. There were 11 members on the city council and the number of eligible voters was 61,960 in April 2006.
The population density was 139.12 inhab/km² in 2005. The population has increased by almost 70,000 inhabitants since 1980. The majority of the inhabitants lived in the urban area--87,775 in 2003. There were 2,424 people living in the rural area.
In addition to the tourists and pilgrims who flock to Trindade to pray to the Holy Trinity, Trindade is becoming an industrial center. Today there are approximately 150 industries producing ceramic, aluminum byproducts, paint, soft drinks, and clothes, and leather. The biggest employers in the town are Refrescos Bandeirantes (Coca-Cola) and Indústria e Comércio de Bebidas Taguatinga S/A (Grupo Imperial/ Antarctica). Coca Cola alone employs 1,040 workers.[1]
In 2006 there was 1 meat-packing plant, 2 dairies, and 4 financial institutions.
Despite the proximity to Goiânia and the rapid industrializtion, Trindade still has a substantial cattle herd with 82,787 head in 2004, of which 26,000 were milking cows. There were also 10,780 pigs and 63,035 poultry.
Trindade is also a big producer of fruits, especially citrus fruits, bananas, and tomatoes.
The main agricultural products were bananas, coffee, coconuts, oranges, lemons, papayas, mangoes, passion fruit, tangerines, pineapple, rice (300 hectares), beans, manioc, corn (800 hectares), soybeans, and tomatoes.
