{"id":1926,"date":"2016-02-02T07:57:46","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T13:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=1926"},"modified":"2019-07-29T16:02:59","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T21:02:59","slug":"artisans-rosario-maranhao-january-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=1926","title":{"rendered":"Artisans, Ros\u00e1rio (Maranh\u00e3o), January 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\u00a0\n

In the interior of Maranh\u00e3o, about 1 1\/2 hours from S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds by car, the town of Ros\u00e1rio rests on the Itapecuru River which provides much of the areas economy.\u00a0 The thick clay on the banks turns to choking dust in the dry season, but it is heavy and ideal for artesanal pottery.<\/p>\n

The area has several pottery workshops (olarias<\/em>) that rely on this clay.\u00a0 There are modern brick factories using this material. bit we visited smaller artisans with older, \u201ctraditional\u201d methods.<\/p>\n

Having spent many summers with my grandparents on a simple farm in central Illinois, seeing this old equipment reminded of childhood memories of rooting around in my grandfather\u2019s barn.<\/p>\n

The first shop, in the city<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9055\"<\/a>
An old potter\u2019s wheel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9076\"<\/a>
Freshly-made clay pots. they only need to be soaked in water to be ready to use.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second shop, closer to river and the source of clay<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9081\"<\/a>
A workshop that seems to specialize in large pots and small pigs (and middle-sized Virgin Maries). They seem to prepare raw figures for local artisans who paint them for sale. This kiln is ancient and still functioning daily.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9086\"<\/a>
Cleaning up the clay pigs for the fire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9110\"<\/a>
Rows of larger utility and decorative pots<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9129\"<\/a>
More pigs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9165\"<\/a>
An ancient wheel, with racks of pots and figurines in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ros\u00e1rio also has a native industry making hammocks.\u00a0 Our apartment, and most hotels have hook for hanging a rede<\/em>, or hammock.<\/p>\n

I use them for hanging my hat, but the older buildings have hooks in every room and many houses use the hammock as the chief place for resting\/sleeping.<\/p>\n

They are comfortable, though it takes some practice to get out of them in even a remotely skillful fashion.\u00a0 In older places with dirt floors, the rede<\/em> is safely off the ground.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9207\"<\/a>
Ros\u00e2rio craftsman making a rede<\/em>, hammock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9236\"<\/a>
An old machine of treadles, blocks, spools and the other devices of weaving looms.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9272\"<\/a>
Another machine for making a hammock \u2014 it is the length of the rede<\/em> and is strung along its length to make the fabric.\u00a0 The craftsman puts it together by walking back and forth stringing each layer.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 In the interior of Maranh\u00e3o, about 1 1\/2 hours from S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds by car, the town of Ros\u00e1rio rests on the Itapecuru River which provides much of the areas economy.\u00a0 The thick clay on the banks turns to choking dust in the dry season, but it is heavy and ideal for artesanal pottery. The … Continue reading Artisans, Ros\u00e1rio (Maranh\u00e3o), January 2016<\/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-1926","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\/1926","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=1926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}