{"id":1795,"date":"2016-01-21T18:14:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T00:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=1795"},"modified":"2019-07-29T21:16:59","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T02:16:59","slug":"more-on-field-work-sometimes-you-get-the-bear-sometimes-it-gets-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=1795","title":{"rendered":"More on field work: Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes it gets you"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\u00a0\n

\"IMG_1578\"<\/a>
In the mirror of Iemanj\u00e1<\/em>. The mirror is usually associated with Oxum<\/em>, the vain orix\u00e1 of water. When I asked the mae de santos<\/em> (the spiritual leader of this Umbanda<\/em> house) about this, she simply said \u201cIemanj\u00e1<\/em> has a mirror too.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some days you get the bear, some days it gets you\u2026 Field work<\/strong><\/p>\n

January, 2016 Maranhao (Sao Luis, Santa Inez, Pindar\u00e9)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Alert: The first section on my \u201cphoto series\u201d is a bit grumpy and personal. The second section on the real purpose of this trip, and our research in general, is a bit more interesting.<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

My photo series on Brazilian (Maranh\u00e3o) bus stops<\/em><\/p>\n

On this set of trips, the bear got us.<\/p>\n

Ever since our extended bus trips to Minas Gerais in 2008 to visit the home of the baroque artist Aleijardinho, we have often found ourselves on Brazilian buses. That is, European-built buses run by various Brazilian bus enterprises. The most comfortable are the MarcoPolo buses by Mercedes. The least comfortable are the modest, shorter-haul buses that sometimes reach the capital, but often do not because of leaky radiators and bald tires.<\/p>\n

These are the buses you get when you arrive too late for the MarcoPolo. I know\u2026 I\u2019ve tested this over and over.<\/p>\n

Some of the Maranh\u00e3o roads are unforgiving, in spite of the state signs bragging about \u201cmore asphalt for you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The \u201cyou\u201d seems to be the transit interchanges and roads in main arteries of the city. This often does not include neighborhoods where roads, water and security are already problematic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The federal highway to the south from the capital (there is only one) is wide and fast, until you run out of decent road and bobble back and forth in the bus, avoiding potholes and other vehicles.\u00a0 Much of the time you skirt the Val\u00e9 train from Caraj\u00e1s which carries up to 300 freight cars full of iron ore to be shipped out of S\u00e3o Luis harbor (Bay of San Marcos).<\/p>\n

S\u00e3o Luis is basically an island, and there is only one highway in and out of the city to the south.\u00a0 The first major landmarks leaving the city are the major bus station, the airport, and then Pedreiras<\/em>, the notorious state penitentiary.<\/p>\n

Returning the same way you are again on the island of S\u00e3o Luis and welcomed by the sign that says Isla do Amor<\/em> \u2014 \u201cIsland of Love.\u201d\u00a0 It looked a bit seedy a few days before when you left, and now looks like home after a few days in the interior.<\/p>\n

More inviting to some are the signs for \u201cMotel,\u201d which here means a high security, discreet drive-in hourly motel.\u00a0 These also have names like \u201cIsland of Love,\u201d and one even has a billboard with two young people embracing, with the message \u201cWhy not now?\u201d\u00a0 They are so walled-in and guarded that spouses can be there with different people and never see each other.<\/p>\n

The city signs are interesting because they offer a Hallmark Cards view of urban improvement \u2014 cheerful signs that tout love, more asphalt, and a better life for all.\u00a0 Like the bumps and holes in the road, it is easier to put up a \u201cDanger\u201d sign than to fix the road.<\/p>\n

The most recent billboard advertises 61 new school buses in rural areas. I don\u2019t know if anyone has seen these buses, but the sign comes after a three-week campaign in the local newspaper about the miseries of public transportation \u2014 including that only half of the promised buses were purchased this year.<\/p>\n

But we have seen the signs.<\/p>\n

There is an election coming up.<\/p>\n

The first time along this route to the interior I was enchanted by the bus stops with their barbeque (churrasco<\/em>) stands, vendors of street food, and men who peel the tough Brazilian oranges for you. There are also peddlers, panhandlers, dogs, and station agents who occasionally interrupt their conversations with other station agents to sell tickets to passengers.<\/p>\n

One day, standing at Itapecaru-Mirim station and bracing myself to brave the restroom, I thought that I should do a photo essay.<\/p>\n

My progress was a bit mixed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1314\"<\/a>
Vendors like this one sell peeled oranges to passers-by as street food.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1323\"<\/a>
These Brazilian oranges have tough, green skins that must be peeled with a knife before eating. The oranges at the lower right are ready \u2014 he cuts the top so you can eat it in the skin.\u00a0 The bus is often fragrant with people dripping orange juice on their hands and chins while they bounce along to the next bus stop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In thinking about a photo essay on bus stations, I was wrong about two things:<\/p>\n

The first was thinking that I wouldn\u2019t see Itapecaru-Mirim again.<\/p>\n

The second was a vague assumption that I would have my cameras with me.<\/p>\n

The second assumption evaporated on the last trip when we arrived near the station. I felt for the cameras and found that the bag under my legs was strangely light.<\/p>\n

During the night when everyone slept, someone slipped into my bag and lifted all the gear. It seems premeditated because we later reconstructed that someone got on the bus outside the S\u00e3o Luis station (out of range of the security cameras and without having to show proper identification), and got off a hundred yards before our stop (slipping away in the dark while all the passengers were asleep).<\/p>\n

I marveled at the skill of someone who could lift the equipment from beneath my legs and then disappear.<\/p>\n

What followed was a mild version of what in the U.S. is often called \u201csecondary victimization.\u201d\u00a0 In cases of robbery and assault, and especially crimes against women and gays, the actual assault is often followed by abuse at the hands of unsympathetic authorities.<\/p>\n

In this case \u2014 by no means as serious as any of those crimes against persons \u2014 we were left with hours of cops and depositions and fatigue and sadness at missing our research trip.<\/p>\n

While we sat in this little bus stop community with inefficient and unhelpful bureaucrats,\u00a0 the thief was off having a camera sale. Perhaps the thief was also planning a photo essay on bus stations, in which case I forgive him.\u00a0 I hope he has a good career in photography \u2014 next time perhaps I\u2019ll carry along some of the software he will need to process the photos.<\/p>\n

The police were solicitous, admonishing us to be more careful next time.\u00a0 Brazilian police are helpful like that.<\/p>\n

We stayed in the little community (Miranda do Norte<\/em>) in a bus station pousada<\/em>, after waiting for the manager to sweep dozens of black beetles out of the room. It seemed to be their mating season, but we insisted that they get their own room.<\/p>\n

The next morning we visited a police station whose waiting room\/main office had two chairs, no telephone, and not a trace of paper \u2014 not even a calendar.<\/p>\n

There was, however, an officer who was busy sweeping black beetles out of the station.\u00a0 The police station made the mythical Mayberry of American television a generation ago seem, well, urbane.<\/p>\n

The local police in Miranda do Norte<\/em> were also solicitous,\u00a0 admonishing us that travel in risky at night and to be more careful next time.\u00a0 The police could save themselves the time of a visit if they would simply print this on a card and pass it out routinely. To amuse us while we waited, they eventually regaled us with stories of other thefts on this bus route, which we now understand is well-known for this pattern of thievery.<\/p>\n

So, our conclusion was that we were marked by a thief in S\u00e3o Luis who boarded after us and waited for everyone to sleep.\u00a0 Then he got off at Miranda do Norte just before the bus station (again, out of range of security camera).<\/p>\n

The police seemed to think this was clever too.<\/p>\n

The bus management (it is the Guanabara\u00a0 <\/em>line, for those of you planning a trip) denied they had ever heard of such a thing. \u00a0 \u201cThese things happen,\u201d as if thefts on their line were inexplicable random events like rain \u2026 and I suppose black beetles in your room.<\/p>\n

In spite of the bus company\u2019s serenity about the loss, Simone has been having a dialogue with the management of the bus company. The dialogue is, in turns, solicitous and legalistic (their side), and full of moral outrage and suggestions for proper responsibility for clients (our side).<\/p>\n

As in other crimes of secondary victimization, blaming the victim (e.g., dressed too provocatively, in the wrong place, etc.) is routine police and bus company behavior.\u00a0 Our loss was a bagatelle compared to serious assaults against persons, but it was reminiscent of what that feeling must be.<\/p>\n

So \u2026 the bus station photo project has slowed down a bit.\u00a0 I am still charmed by the bus stop culture.\u00a0 There is a mixture of resignation and vague desperation in the passengers who know the bus will be late, and that \u201csuch things happen.\u201d\u00a0 I think hey got the message from the police and bus company.<\/p>\n

Readers of Samuel Becket\u2019s Waiting for Godot\u00a0<\/em>will understand what this is like.<\/p>\n

There is an Eastern wisdom that tells us the obstacle is the path, and that the journey is more important than the goal The Brazilian passengers seem to have an understanding of these vagaries of the universe and impermanence of the world and its objects (especially its transportation).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1353\"<\/a>
Between buses at Itapecuru-Mirim. With the vagaries of Brazilian roads and bus schedules, the whole place has the feel of Samuel Becket\u2019s play, Waiting for Godot<\/em>.\u00a0 The buses are not exactly unreliable, but their reliability is full of random outcomes \u2014 sometimes \u201cyes\u201d, sometimes \u201cno\u201d.\u00a0 Always \u201cmaybe.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1345\"<\/a>
Mountains of luggage and doubtful nutrition. Only the (fool)hardy and the desperate actually eat here, though there is also a barbeque, surrounded by dogs and smoke, that some travelers like.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Hotels and pousadas
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

On this trip we spent our first night in a perfectly decent hotel \u2014 it had air conditioning and running water.\u00a0\u00a0 The next two nights that was not the case \u2013 room temperatures were somewhere in the 80s when the night cooled off. The rooms had\u00a0 open ceilings so that the heat (and sound) could rise and circulate.<\/p>\n

There were even a toilet and shower not so terribly far away, down a dark hall filled with cats and unfamiliar objects.\u00a0 Here, the goal was more important than the journey \u2026\u00a0 when there was water. As it happened, the water was inexplicably absent for our first day there \u2014 a normal fact of life that again invoked a sense of stoicism and impermanence.\u00a0 It reminded me of visiting my grandfather\u2019s farm in central Illinois during a drought.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t expected Pindar\u00e9 to evoke childhood memories of the \u201cinterior\u201d of the U.S. a long time ago.<\/p>\n

This pousada<\/em> was actually my favorite place, based on the theory that there is no reason to do field work if it is going to feel like you are staying in a Motel 6. This one didn\u2019t \u2014 and, on the positive side, it is definitely not part of a look-alike chain of hotels.\u00a0 You could duplicate the decor, but would need some cats and a bucket to shower with.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1772\"<\/a>
This pousada<\/em> does not seem to have a Michelin rating. Common to practice in this area, it has a slanted tile roof so the heat can rise \u2014 it does, and escapes over the walls that do not reach the ceiling. This gives some intimate contact with the sleep habits of your next door neighbor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The charm of the place was compounded by the fact that what was called \u201ctaxi\u201d would be an unmarked car, often old with a cracked windshield.\u00a0 The system makes New York Gypsy cabs look positively organized and reliable.\u00a0 It turns out that the most reliable transportation, and safest in the rutty roads were the mototaxis<\/em> \u2014 young men with small motorcycles who would drive you about.\u00a0 They were more courageous than the taxi drivers, who would sometimes balk at the neighborhoods or the roads we needed to travel.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7187\"<\/a>
Part of the fleet of boots used to cross he Mirim river. When not in use they are sunk in the water so they do not dry out in the blazing sun. Because they are low and flat-bottomed, it takes a bit of balance to get in and out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have any photos of mototaxis<\/em> because I was too busy holding on to the motorcycle, my hat, my camera gear, and my composure.<\/p>\n

Crossing the river was a somewhat more leisurely affair, though it also required some faith, and a grip on the boat.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7233\"<\/a>
Two heavier ferry boats. The one at the right carries large trucks. The smaller one on the left carries groups of people carrying packages, motorcycles and bicycles, and the occasional horse or donkey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t often have to cross the river, but doing so was a matter of catching one of the drivers of flat-bottomed boats that scurry back and forth across the Mirim.\u00a0 They were more numerous and reliable than the taxis.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7774\"<\/a>
Ferry across the Mirim in Pindar\u00e9. The reward is in the background \u2014 the Malagueta Bar which has fresh fish from the river about twenty feet away. From the restaurant you can watch kids swimming across the river, being dodged by ferry boats and (on weekends) kamikaze jet skiers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1792\"<\/a>
The street outside our pousada<\/em>. For the romantic of spirit, there are wild donkeys and dogs that hang around at night. There were other unusual noises we didn\u2019t investigate.\u00a0 Oddly, the building at the end of the street is the municipal health department. Just in case. I suppose.\u00a0 We have not seen it actually open.\u00a0 Perversely, the verse from My Fair Lady<\/em>, \u201cI have have often walked on this street before\u2026\u201d (\u201cOn the Street Where You Live\u201d ) would run through my head each time we stepped out to catch a motor cycle taxi. The mototaxi is a young man on a small to medium-sized Honda\u00a0 that ferries you about the city, hanging onto the back with your camera equipment dangling on your back.\u00a0 It is not considered good form to hold on to the taxista in a death grip to keep from falling off.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the way back to S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds we missed the \u201cgood\u201d bus and had a choice of a not-so-good bus that drove through the night, or waiting another day.\u00a0 We remembered that the bear had recently gotten us (and our cameras) on our last night trip \u2014 and that we had to salvage our last bits of functioning camera\/video gear \u2013 \u2013 we opted to stay at a hotel called the \u201cPalace.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a palace, actually, but it was a hundred feet from the good bus the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood\u201d here sometimes means the bus with decent tires and a\u00a0 functioning toilet in the back.<\/p>\n

No photos here either, though the bus stop was indeed colorful. I suppose it is just as well \u2013 I suspect the bus company and the State of Maranh\u00e3o won\u2019t want to use my photos and stories for their tourist brochures.<\/p>\n

But we got there and had a very productive and fulfilling research trip.<\/p>\n

Below is a photo of\u00a0 images of Santa Inez (Saint Agnes), the patron saint of the city of the same name.\u00a0 We stayed in this now-familiar city because we wanted to visit a spiritual leader (mae de santo<\/em>) in Santa Inez.\u00a0 As an extra bonus we found a ceramic workshop (olaria<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1366\"<\/a>
Images of Saint Agnes, patron saint of the city of Santa Inez. These are more or less official images from the hagiography of Catholic saints.\u00a0 It is interesting to compare these icons with the images below of the Umbanda<\/em> spiritual house (terreiro<\/em>)\u00a0 we visited.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1446\"<\/a>
Image and costume of Oxum<\/em>, the goddess (orix\u00e1<\/em>) of fresh water.\u00a0 Although the entities are different from the official churches, the traditions of icons and altars has some similarities.\u00a0 Many are in fact derived from Catholic practice after having been adopted and modified in popular (non-official) ceremonies and rituals. Saints Sebastian, Anthony, Peter, Barbara and many others are from the Catholic pantheon are common in terreiros<\/em>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We wanted to meet and interview the leader of this house as part of our study of women leaders in Maranh\u00e3o\u2019s cultura popular<\/em>.\u00a0 These images are from her spiritual house in Santa Inez.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1460\"<\/a>
Image and costume of Ians\u00e1<\/em>, the orix\u00e1<\/em> of tempests, and sometimes of death. A wilder version of Ians\u00e1 appears in ceremonies in an Umbanda house in Codo honoring two female entities (see earlier post).\u00a0 She is often associated with Saint Barbara, who was sacrificed by her father for becoming a Christian.\u00a0 On her execution a tempest destroyed his kingdom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1692\"<\/a>
A pottery workshop (olaria<\/em>) in Santa Inez. This craftsman mixed clay and threw this pot while we were there.\u00a0 The region has a strong tradition of brick-making factories (also called olarias<\/em>) which use the same local clay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1357\"<\/a>
Deliveries, Santa Inez, Maranh\u00e3o<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The final destination of the field trip was a celebration of several days involving diverse groups in the Umbanda<\/em> tradition.\u00a0 The photos below are from that celebration in a modest neighborhood of the city of Pindar\u00e9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1859\"<\/a>
Devotees in a religious celebration in Pindar\u00e9.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1874\"<\/a>
Members of various groups usually wore distinctive garments. Different spiritual houses seemed to have different dress, and some groups changed their costumes from time to time to honor the entities that each phase of their practice evoked.\u00a0 The costumes are androgynous and gender distinctions are fluid in many of these traditions.\u00a0 This reflected many of the spiritual entities and orix\u00e1s who often can take on either a male of female form.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6967\"<\/a>
As in many other religious traditions, incense purifies the space and invokes spirits. In this dimly-lit space it also added to the unusual atmosphere of the ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The instruments in this celebration were a variety of drums that were sometimes accompanied by other rhythmic percussion.\u00a0 Common is the hollow gourd that is held in a net with beads or shells that rattle against the gourd when shaken.\u00a0 It is shaken rhythmically with the drum beat.\u00a0 This is a familiar instrument from African traditions and widespread in Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6981\"<\/a>
Much of celebration practice consists of dancing and chanting\/praying for hours to the beat of Afro-Brazilian percussion. The whirling motion of the dancers is sometimes reminiscent of the ancient meditative dervish dances of Turkey and Afghanistan, but it is wilder and more driven by drums.\u00a0 Like the dervish dances, though, it produces an altered state of consciousness.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another interrelated practice in the interior is the promessa<\/em>, which is most commonly a celebration in honor of some blessing received.\u00a0 Often dedicated to a saint, it is paid for by family and friends who put on a party where the public is welcome.\u00a0 It is a religious act turned into a block party and community event.<\/p>\n

The drummers and dancer in the photos below below are fulfilling a promessa<\/em> to honor a dead boieiro<\/em> \u2014 a member of a Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> group that is performing and attending in his memory.<\/p>\n

Some Tambor da Crioula<\/em> groups exist as independent dance groups, but many are associated with a particular Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> group.\u00a0 In the days of rural patriarchy, only men participated in the boi.\u00a0 <\/em>In previous generations women accompanied the groups in supporting roles, or stayed home to tend the work and the family while the men were celebrating.<\/p>\n

The Tambor da Crioula<\/em> was an alternative performance\/celebration practice for women \u2014 one of he few available to them apart from religious celebrations.\u00a0 It is an important historical dance form, strongly evocative of African forms and now listed as a national cultural patrimony in Maranh\u00e3o.<\/p>\n

The role of women has been changing significantly.\u00a0 Women are now increasingly playing performing and leadership roles in the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em>, although the Tambor da Crioula<\/em> is still danced almost exclusively by women with men providing the percussion.\u00a0 The familiar three-drum accompaniment shown here is also that used in many Afro-Brazilian ritual events and spiritual practices.\u00a0 Musicians are often active in many of these diverse practices and celebrations, crossing the imaginary boundaries among various traditions.<\/p>\n

The middle drummer of the three pictured here is also a master embroiderer of costumes for the Bumba-meu-boi.\u00a0 Like many people in the interior, he practices in various Catholic, Afro-Brazilian, and community traditions like this one.\u00a0 This experience leads many culture intellectuals in Maranh\u00e3o to speak of a total cultural network, a life-filling web of practice and community.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7416\"<\/a>
One of the interrelated practices is the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em>. Another is the Tambor da Crioula<\/em>. This celebration is a promessa<\/em> \u2014 here honoring the anniversary of the death of on of their members, a boieiro<\/em> (practitioner of the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em>). The promessa<\/em> is for a Tambor da Crioula dance to be held in his honor. The deceased honoree is pictured on the t-shirts the percussionists are wearing.\u00a0 The drummer in the center is also a also master embroiderer who creates costumes for brincantes<\/em> (players, performers) in the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7451\"<\/a>
One of Tambor da Crioula<\/em> dancers in the promessa for the late boieiro.\u00a0 He was an honored member of the BmB group that was offering the dance in his memory. \u00a0 <\/em>We also know this dancer (Dona Nazar\u00e9) as a \u201ccaixeira,\u201d one of the women drummers who celebrate the Festa do Divino<\/em> (see earlier post on the caixeiras of Pindar\u00e9<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Real Point of the Trip<\/em><\/p>\n

Why would we be doing this? We are not anthropologists of the old school who relish the excitement of research on remote peoples. We are a retired political scientist and a dancer\/professor.<\/p>\n

However, after some 8 or 9 years of visiting Maranh\u00e3o, we find ourselves in\u00a0 the midst of what we think will be two books. We also have a huge number of videos and photo images that may find themselves into a a series of photo sets and edited videos.<\/p>\n

The first of these still-imaginary books is on women in \u201cpopular\u201d (traditional) culture in Maranh\u00e3o.<\/p>\n

The second was originally to be based on the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> festival as it is practiced in the capital.\u00a0 <\/em>As we have learned more,<\/em> but the idea has broadened to include connections of that celebration with other religious and cultural practices in Maranh\u00e3o.<\/p>\n

The Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> in our research is in the center of a network practices and social relations that still exist in Maranh\u00e3o. Much of this network has been changed in the capital city where the festival has been trimmed and monetized into performances for visitors ad tourists.\u00a0 Finding out more of the roots of the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> in popular culture has meant going back to the interior where the festival maintains much of its heritage of cultural density and richness.<\/p>\n

That is why we keep going to the interior of Maranh\u00e3o.<\/p>\n

In this trip the key events were the several-day-long celebration of African-Brazilian practice. This includes elements of\u00a0 traditions such as Candombl\u00e9, Tereco, Tambor de Minas, and Umbanda<\/em>. Many of these groups gathered in Pindar\u00e9 and we were there to film and photograph them, to interview some of the leaders, and to better understand this intricate cultural matrix.<\/p>\n

It has many elements of Catholicism, but is in fact an alternative symbolic universe of entities and practices that incorporate many diverse elements.<\/p>\n

This event was at the conceptual the nexus of our two (still) imaginary books.\u00a0 Women are powerful in these religious practices which are often matriarchal in their organization.\u00a0 Many of the practitioners<\/em> are also involved in the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> and other cultural traditions in the interior.\u00a0 In our years of contact with the celebration, we began to feel that the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> in the capital city is sometimes dissociated from this web.\u00a0 We went to the interior to see more of the heritage of related practices.<\/p>\n

One of our most important interviews was with the mae de santos <\/em>(mother of saints) who is spiritual head of an Umbanda<\/em> house. She is a leading religious figure in the area. In her biography, she traversed a youth in an evangelical church, but was ejected for having visions (the wrong ones). She drifted toward alternative practices and eventually founded her own house of syncretic\/hybrid practices.\u00a0 She personifies the importance of women and the interconnected web of heritage culture.<\/p>\n

We were privileged over and over to experience the remarkable charisma, spiritual authority, and community commitment of women such as this.<\/p>\n

She was a dominant figure in the spiritual celebration in Pindare, but shared the authority and guidance with others (including her own mae pequena <\/em>\u2013 \u201clittle mother\u201d \u2014 who is the second in command of her spiritual house. A sign that the little mother was still on the path was that she conducted liturgies and chants in Portuguese, rather than Yoruba, one of the African languages often used in Afro-Brazilian practice.<\/p>\n

It often takes years in these traditions to achieve full initiation and the liturgy is very complex.\u00a0 They are far from the preconceptions and sensationalization of \u201cvoodoo\u201d as it is know in New Orleans.\u00a0 Actually, as we understand it,\u00a0 New Orleans voudou<\/em> is related to the same African matrix of spiritual practice, but it arrived in the U.S. with Haitian immigrant in the 19th century.\u00a0 It took a complicated path to the southern U.S., migrating and evolving from Africa to Haiti.\u00a0 The practices in Brazil were carried by slaves from various parts of Africa, though some early African slaves were brought from the Azores where slavery had an earlier history.\u00a0 In different parts of the New World, Africa-based practices maintained elements of continuity the their African matrix, but also evolved differently in the new culture.<\/p>\n

One of the challenges to our understanding is that each of these practices has its own combination of symbols and forms for worship and celebration.\u00a0 The practices and entities do not decode directly into more familiar Western (or Eastern) religions. There are similarities, but these religions are not based on a set of written rules, nor on a normative priesthood and catechism, nor on tradition of normative texts. They are transmitted through apprenticeship and practice, through dance and songs, and through oral transmission. This gives them continuity as well as flexibility (see for example, Yvonne Daniel in her book on Candombl\u00e9, Dancing Wisdom<\/em>).<\/p>\n

In Maranh\u00e3o there are strong traditions, but no \u201corthodoxy\u201d that is easily codified. In fact, researchers in Afro-Brazilian practice have often reported their research analysis provided a useful codification for practitioners \u2013 the anthropologists became active participants in codifying their practice.<\/p>\n

So, our purpose in going deeper into the Afro-Brazilian practices is to understand the broader cultural matrix of religion and celebration in Maranh\u00e3o.\u00a0 Viewing the celebrations of the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> in the city of S\u00e3o Luis gives a disconnected view of the celebration, showing only the cleansed and marketed version for visitors and urban celebrants.\u00a0 The deeper cultural matrix is in popular Catholicism, Afro-Brazilian spiritual practice, and a variety of celebrations that formed the culture heritage of the interior.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Some days you get the bear, some days it gets you\u2026 Field work January, 2016 Maranhao (Sao Luis, Santa Inez, Pindar\u00e9) \u00a0 Alert: The first section on my \u201cphoto series\u201d is a bit grumpy and personal. The second section on the real purpose of this trip, and our research in general, is a … Continue reading More on field work: Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes it gets you<\/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":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-introduction-research-northeast-brazil"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795","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=1795"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1830,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions\/1830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}