May-2015
Little ox carts
The roar comes from a distance, and has been heard since long ago. A good cart has to roar, has to make itself heard.
For generations the Cururupu region has been marked by the power of these carts made of iron and wood, pulled by the traction of two oxen.
Cheda, canga, paré, rodeiro, canzil, taca, cébria and a whole bunch of other terms for the pieces of these carts, this is the culture of these people who know quite well how much smoother a rubber tire can be compared to a wooden wheel.
The little ox carts built by the boys of the Entre Rios maroon community don’t leave out some of these pieces, like the canga, canzil, and certainly not the cart’s roar. For that you can use kerosene on the axels and stack the cart with rocks, since a cart with a light load doesn’t roar.
Borne out of the roots of cork trees, the boys’ oxen bleed sap when they’re freshly made.
Mateus and Netinho take the cork to their yard, underneath an ingazeiro tree, and carve arduously with their machetes on a table set on an old and steady tree trunk.
“New toys break quickly and we can’t fix them,” says 10-year-old Mateus. All toys break, but those made by them have the advantage that they can be fixed, and there lies a job that is almost essential to these boys. Fixing takes time, dedication, effort, problem solving… What a great thing for these kids.
Just Mateus’ wheel broke two or three times as he built it. On one of the last blows of the machete, crack… it would split in half. Starting over, doing over, repeating the same gestures with more care, perfecting movements, this is a part of play.
At the end of the day, the oxen deserve to return to their stable, set loose from their carts in order to rest after so much fun.
Text and photos: Renata Meirelles
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