{"id":1050,"date":"2015-10-13T05:34:38","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T10:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=1050"},"modified":"2019-07-29T16:21:20","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T21:21:20","slug":"maranhao-mask-maker-abel-texeira","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=1050","title":{"rendered":"Maranhao mask maker: Abel Texeira"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\u00a0\n

Abel Texeira is a master mask-maker<\/em> whose work is known all over Maranhao and seen in many groups of the Baixada<\/em> tradition (the region where he lived before migrating to Sao Luis).<\/p>\n

His health is failing now and he is not as active creatively, but his wife is still working in his signature style.<\/p>\n

His work have been exhibited in the Afro-Brazilian Museum of Sao Paulo and in various art and folklore galleries throughout Brazil.\u00a0 He is also featured in various books of folklore culture, and his work continues to be danced everywhere in the region.<\/p>\n

The masks are the face covering of somewhat mysterious creatures in the Baixada tradition known as cazumbas<\/em>.\u00a0 They are distinctive to this style of Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> and found among Baixada groups throughout the region.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1793\" — Abel and Simone. We have been visiting them for several years now. He was quite weak from diabetes and heart problems, but he managed to get up to see us.\u00a0 He remembered the Milwaukee Brewers shirt we once took him and put it on to greet us.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_1852\"$ <\/a>
Abel\u2019s classic mask style, now created by his wife Marie shown here (with grandchild)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_1807\"$ <\/a>
Abel Texeira and grandchildren, bairro<\/em> of Coroadinha, city of Sao Luis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_1941\"$ <\/a>
One of Abel\u2019s grandchildren<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_1960\"$ <\/a>
Street in the bairro<\/em> of Coroadinha, one of the most underserved and troubled neighborhoods in the city<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_1931\"$ <\/a>
Abel Texeira with his signature personal mask that he wore during his years as an active brincante<\/em> (performer) in the Baixada group Bumba-meu-boi da Floresta. <\/em>Unlike his later style of cloth masks, this mask from the 1970s is made of wood.\u00a0 Dancing all night in this heavy mask and Cazumba costume is a challenge on hot Sao Luis nights. He wore it for what he thinks will be the last time about two years ago when he dressed and masked so I could photograph him.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 Abel Texeira is a master mask-maker whose work is known all over Maranhao and seen in many groups of the Baixada tradition (the region where he lived before migrating to Sao Luis). His health is failing now and he is not as active creatively, but his wife is still working in his signature style. … Continue reading Maranhao mask maker: Abel Texeira<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-folk-culture-and-spiritual-practice-in-maranhao-brazil"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1050"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1153,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions\/1153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}