Tobatí

Tobatí is a city in the Tobati District in the Cordillera Department, Paraguay. The population of the city is 9,688.

Tobati was founded in June 1539 by Domingo Martínez de Irala. There are various opinions as to the meaning of the town's name. One is from the Spanish definition of the word, referring to the rocky terrain, consisting largely of limestone. Another is that it is the combination of the Guaraní language words "tova," meaning "face" and "tí," meaning "nose," or together - "nose on the face." The third option is that the name is a combination of the Guaraní words, tova, and morotí - referring to an indigenous legend of a white faced warrior priest who would come to lead the tribes into a glorius era.

One of the greatest heroes in Paraguayan history, the "Liberator of Paraguay," Captain Pedro Juan Caballero hailed from Aparypy, Tobati. Captain Caballero was the leader of the Paraguayan War for Independence from Spain, and is known as a very able military tactician. Caballero continued to serve his country after the War for Independence as one of the members of the governing Junta of Paraguay until the ascension of the "Perpetual Dictator," Doctor José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia.

Tobati was the subject of two very well known and respected sociological studies and books. The first is titled, Tobati: A Paraguayan Town, by Helen and Elman Service. The second is titled Tobati : tradicion y cambio en un pueblo paraguayo, by Diego Hay.

As with most Paraguayan towns, Tobatí is predominately Roman Catholic. There are small Evangelical, Baptist, and Jehovah’s Witnesses communities present in the town as well. The town is divided into Barrios, generally named after Saints, and feast days of the Saints are celebrated in their respective Barrios as neighborhood events. The religious life of the town centers around the feast day of Mary of the Immaculate Conception, the Patron Saint of Tobatí, on December 8.

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