The Festa do Divino is understood to have come to Brazil from Portugal in the 18th century, but it is also possible that it also came from slaves brought to Brazil from the Azores. Having been adopted by Azorean slaves of African origin, it had already become a hybrid practice that has no direct equivalent in Europe or North America (though there are accounts that it is practiced in some areas of the United States by Azorean descendants).
This European-African-Brazilian hybrid continues in Maranhão today in its distinctive identity.
In the most widely-known Festa do Divino, the Espirito Santo (Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost) is the Brazilian Portuguese designation for Pentecost (English), Pfingsten (German), Whitsunday (UK) is honored in a ceremony that includes courtly dances whose movement an costumes recall their Portuguese origin. Adults worship, dance and sing a liturgy, but children are the centerpiece. These events of Popular Catholicism are not normed by the official Church and often follow customs and dates of their own.
Children perform in what North Americans would understand as a pageant play — representing Biblical figures. They wear costumes with crowns. Usually there are a girl and a boy representing “royalty” — an emperor/empress, or king/queen. In some interpretations they are seen as various representations of the Holy Spirit. However, any simply reference to celebrations on the Catholic calendar elsewhere in the world are confusing.
Here are some unusual features of the Festa do Divino as practiced in Maranhão:
It has a Catholic “feel,” but its main carriers and celebrants are caixeiras — women who are dedicated to honoring the Holy Spirit in percussion and song.
In other countries a similar celebration may fall on the 40th day after Easter (corresponding to the Pentecost), but in Maranhao it is celebrated in the 3rd week of November. It may last as long as a week.
It is associated with thanks for gifts (joias) received. This is often expressed in the form of animals and other food gifts that form the feast. Children and other blessings are also honored, but the feast is a central part of the celebration.
The ceremonies are not presided over by a priest. They are lay ceremonies and part of what is called “popular Catholicism” — hybrid Catholic practices that exist alongside, or even separate from, the institutional Church.
The practice is intertwined with African-Brazilian spiritual practice and generally is practiced by people with links to non-Catholic spiritual groups.
We observed one Festa do Divino celebration in Santa Rosa dos Pretos. The community lies along Brazilian federal highway 135 about 2 hours south of Sao Luis. In some accounts it has a long history as a quilombo, a community of fugitive and freed slaves formed outside the colonial power structure. Many estimates place the number of such communities in Maranhão at 500-700 or more, but the number varies widely between official (registered) and unofficial (not registered or contested) definitions. Registered quilombos are protected under federal and state laws, but their status is matter of continuing contention over identity, cultural practice, and land rights. A registered quilombo under procedures developed after the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, has official legal status. Many communities are still unofficial and often contested and even areas of violence with other claimants on land rights.
This is the first of two Festas do Divino that we observed and documented. The second (see later post on Maria Caixeira) was in Pindaré and was combined with the Festa do Sao Gançolo, another celebration that “feels” somehow Catholic, but is rich in other practices as well.
In both cases, the festival was organized and carried out by the caixeiras — women who perform percussion and singing as part of their devotional practice.
The Festa do Divino was held in this church, with part of the feast and celebration in a house nearby.
Festa can also mean feast, which is an important part of the celebration which may go on for days. The house below follows a common rural practice of having an open kitchen area where food is prepared and passed between the interior and exterior areas.
