Field Notes on Current Research in Brazil and Elsewhere
From Rosario to Axixa to ….. Icatu and Itatuaba
A Trip into the Interior with IPHAN
(Institute for National Historical and Artistic Patrimony)
Field work: Crossing the Munim River from the small city of Presidente Juscelino to Cachoeira Grande. The ferry is built from planks laid across two old fishing boat hulls. The operator bails out the hulls from time to time while he operates the wood rudder with his leg
[NOTE: The text below is to credit those who helped us and give some of the context of efforts in Maranhao to preserve heritage cultures. You can skip this and scroll directly down to the photos of the trip.]
One of the reasons Maranhao has such a rich heritage culture is its underdevelopment and large expanses of rural interior with little infrastructure. The effects of urbanization and education that are felt in the capitol Sao Luis are scarcely evident in the settlements (povoadas) of the rural interior.
The residents there are not totally isolated, however. A long-standing governmental effort links them with electricity. Though the lines are still being extended and improved, the effort was to bring all Brazil into a national media network — first with radio in the 1940s, then television from the late 1950s.
This was a political effort at nation-building, but it was not always followed by decent roads, water, and education. Mass media entertainment lives side by side with rural poverty.
The families we met were not isolated, though. Their groups (Bumba-meu-boi and Tambor da Crioula) sometimes perform outside their settlements and villages, and there is a dense cultural network linking the people in a diverse set of heritage spiritual and cultural practices. They are also connected to nearby towns and small cities. During our interviews, we saw children going to small local schools, residents on motorcycles moving about, and family members who were dressed for the villages and towns at the other end of the road.
The residents live in an infrastructure-poor area where water often must be carried in buckets from faraway well or holding tank. But they have television, they see occasional trucks carrying construction materials, and — for better or worse — they occasionally get culture specialists and researchers from Sao Luis.
The Institute for National Historical and Artistic Patrimony (IPHAN) is a federal agency that has responsibility for overseeing various cultural resources. This includes both buildings and physical sites (material culture) and cultural forms (immaterial cultural).
On this trip we were able to accompany Izaurina Nunes of IPHAN on her mission to support rural cultural practices and to find ways to help them survive.
The trip began in the small city of Rosario, then moved to Cidade Nova, Axixa, Presidente Juscelino, Cachoeira Grande, and Icatu. We visited many settlements — small communities (povoadas) that typically do not have a paved road or a good water source, and only minimal electricity. We needed four-wheel drive to reach some of the povoadas.
In one passage we took a slightly unsettling ferry (called a balsa) from Presidente Juscelino to Cachoeira Grande. the construction of the ferry — from two old fishing boat hulls — added some excitement to the short passage across the Rio Munim (Munim River). These two small cities are only a stone’s throw apart, but no bridge connects them.
Slightly upriver, where the water courses through sharp rocks (and gives the town its name — cachoeira, which means waterfall) women sometimes do laundry in the river because of limited fresh water in the town
Some of our work took us to bureaucratic offices in smaller cities. Here is one of the offices of the city of Axixa where a steady stream of people carry pieces of paper in and out
All around the region there are tributaries of the Rio Munim and there are other waters that flow from Baia Jose (Bay of Jose) and then from the Atlantic Ocean.
There is still a fishing tradition in the area, but some of the tributaries drying out in this hot season (In November it is late spring here). Some of the boats seem inactive as the waters and the fishing change.
On the Rio Munim a fisherman is sorting his catch of surubim — apparently a type of catfish. He is using a traditional cofu, or basket woven of buriti palm leaves. to hold the catch. Surubim can grow quite large, but the only ones we saw were small ones like this one
This is Dona Almerinda Veloso, leader of Bumba-meu-boi de Sao Joao de Rosario
One of Dona Almerinda’s boi/ox figures in a small building that doubles as a storage area for costumes and other materials. Her son stands with the with their group’s ox, along with a sack of bananas that had just been delivered by motorcycle. Unlike the highly expensive embroidered ox skins used in the capitol city of Sao Luis, these rural bois are often done with applique and other forms of handwork
Dona Almerinda’s storage building and headquarters
These women lead a Tambor da Crioula dance group, also in a small settlement. This African-derived dance form for women was declared a national patrimony (a sort of honorary designation as a cultural heritage). This visit of IPHAN (the National Institute for Historical and Artistic Patrimony) was to try to find ways to support these cultural groups in remote areas. It is hard work for IPHAN to bring support so deep into the interior,and hard work for people to maintain these traditions
Their home — a form of rural constuction with a frame of local wood and sticks that is filled with a kind of stucco. The roof is a sturdy one of tile. Some of the more modest houses use thatched palm fronds for the roof
Many of the people we visited offered what they could as hospitality. Sometimes it was water or a soft drink, desperately appreciated in the 95-degree heat and ferocious sun.
The Tambor da Crioula leader below was different: She offered us freshly-picked bananas and jucara, the same “wonder ingredient” known outside the region as acai. It is popular with body builders in Brazil because it is rich in antioxidants, fiber, vitamin C and much more. In vastly adulterated form it finds its way into American supermarket potions, but loses its character and probably its effectiveness along the way.
She offered us bananas that seem to grow nearby and one of the rare local treasures — jacara, or acai, which grows on local palms. It is highly perishable, so it is only near the source that you can get fresh, pure jacara/acai. The acai potions you find outside the region are frozen and usually mixed with of sugar. One popular variation is to serve it in a bowl thickened with a form of manioc flour (farofa).
This was literally the end of the line for us that day. There was some electricity here but no running water or plumbing. One of the Tambor da Crioula group’s members lives here with his family, at the end of a long and rough road. They seem to be connected to the more populated areas by motorcycle. Small displacement Hondas seem to be the most common replacement for animal transportation.
One of the out building in the sandy soil that only supports the palm forest and a few hardy fruit trees
Luiz Ferreira is the leader of a Tambor da Crioula group in the povoada of Mato Grosso. Though only women dance, the men provide percussion with drums like the ones behind him. There are typically three different drums, each with a different voice
We didn’t find the lead of one of the Bumba-meu-boi groups, but we located his father along the road. He was carrying his machete (facao), coming back from working
Roberto Pereira Santos has a modest house In the Cidade Novo neighborhood on the edge of Rosario. Behind a fence is a large terrain with a garden and a shelter where his Tambor da Crioula group performs. Like many residents in the interior, he is involved in a number of other spiritual practices. He is sitting here with a cluster of statues of various entities of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous origin.
Some of the occult symbols that are part of Roberto’s everyday spiritual life. His Tambor da Crioula group is called Sonhos de Sao Benedito (“Dreams of Saint Benedict,” the black saint who is the patron of the Tambor da Crioula)
One of Roberto’s altars showing a collection of entities from Catholicism and other traditions. There are other altars in his terrain representing deities from Afro-Brazilian and indigenous practice
Dona Luzia, leader of a Tambor da Crioula group in Cachoeira Grande (Maranhao)
Dona Luzia, here in front of her house. She is renovating the house (photo right) to provide space for her dance group.
This is another rural road in a povoada. Women here carry water from a community reservoir. In some settlements like this one women carry water long distances from a well or holding tank. Most often the water is stored in a small reservoir (caixa da agua) that may be outfitted with spigots for the residents. In other settlements we have seen the tanks enclosed and locked, apparently available only a certain times or perhaps not at all
Leandro da Conceicao Teixeira, leader of a Tambor da Crioula group in the small settlement of Sangrador. In front of his home a truck with building materials for the ranch down the unpaved road comes through, scattering the chickens and pigs and brushing aside the horses, donkeys and the occasional motorcycle or old bicycle. Water is scarce and must be carried, but there is electricity for limited lighting and the ubiquitous television
Senhor Leandro wanted photos of his wife also. We wanted photos of these wonderful people, and were very happy that they wanted the pictures too. We take copies of the photos to them whenever we return. In one home we had visited in 2008 the people remembered our visit and brought out a photo we had given them then.
Zequina Militao and Dona Nazare are another example of the interconnections of rural/small town cultural practice. They lead both Bumba-meu-boi group and Tambor da Crioula groups. Here they are in their sede, the building that houses their costumes and provides a performance space for the groups.
Sr. Zequinha de Militao and Dona Nazare, This couple have two groups — Tambor da Crioula de Baiacui and Bumba meu boi de Icatu in the village of Icatu. This is their headquarters and performance area. Around them are costumes and drums. The bright floral prints behind them are traditional in the huge, flowing skirts of the Tambor da Crioula dancers.
This is Itatuaba, a settlement (povoada) almost at the end of the road. It was about hour’s drive from the last paved road, and we occasionally needed 4-wheel drive to get through. The community is not far from the Bay of Jose (Baia Jose) and the Atlantic Ocean, but water is effectively far away because of the dense forest. From here there is only the same road back to Icatu where the asphalt begins again
All around the region there are tributaries of the Rio Munim and there are other waters that flow from Baia Jose (Bay of Jose) and then from the Atlantic Ocean.
