Jun-2015
We arrived at David’s grandfather’s banana plantation after a long hike. Turning left by the cemetery, we walked down a path through the bush, walked past a spring, crossed a bridge, and arrived there to pick the dried leaves we will use on Sunday for Nego Fugido (Runaway Black Boy). Amarelinho, or Lil’ Yellow (as […]
May-2015
Today we went to visit the Children’s Samba de Roda of Saubara, a town next to Acupe. Dona Anna is an old school sambadeira, or samba player. She has spun her skirt and her voice among the best in the samba de roda, a local style of samba music of the Recôncavo Baiano. These days […]
May-2015
Velho Tonho connects with places that not everyone can reach. He travels far, solitary, persistent. He stays committed to his own singular trajectory. This is how he became deeply immersed in the Reisado, or Three Kings’ Party, in his region, when he learned the traditional songs through people who came to live in Tatajuba for […]
May-2015
Conceição greeted us in a printed skirt, her hair wrapped in cloth and the baby Jesus in her arms. We sat at the table and she told us that when she was a child she would watch her father prepare for the Three Kings’ Party, but this tradition disappeared over the years. She was invited […]
May-2015
Every year the town of Santa Maria de Jetibá organizes its traditional Pomeranian Festival. To hold a festival that celebrates the traditions of these people is a natural consequence of the local culture, where 88% of the population is Pomeranian and you hear the language being spoken among children and adults, where businesses prefer to […]
Ô Cosme cadê Damião? Hey Cosme, where is Damião? Ô Cosme cadê Damião? […]
May-2015
How do children learn traditions? How do they follow the rhythms of the life and culture of a people? Normally, they learn with those who know, they learn by doing, creating bonds with doing as they do. We witnessed an example of this in the way the children of Santa Maria de Jetibá learn to […]
May-2015
Our friend and expert on the Bumba meu Boi game, Prof. Dr. Soraia Chung Saura, visited us here in Maranhão and she gifted us with beautiful descriptions of her visit: Finally, on the 28th, we got ready to follow “Saint Peter,” as this festivity is called. Now the groups no longer split into fairs around […]
May-2015
Our friend and expert on the Bumba meu Boi game, Prof. Dr. Soraia Chung Saura, visited us here in Maranhão and she gifted us with beautiful descriptions of her visit: I don’t think we had entirely recovered from Saint John and Saint Peter when we decided to see the celebrations of Saint Marçal, on July […]
May-2015
Our friend and expert on the Bumba meu Boi game, Prof. Dr. Soraia Chung Saura, visited us here in Maranhão and she gifted us with beautiful descriptions of her visit: “First admire, then you will understand.” Gaston Bachelard The family is now wandering through Maranhão, arriving just before the June festivities. This time they settle […]
May-2015
Quem foi que disse Who is it that said Que janeiro não saía […]
