Dia dos Namorados

This is a heads-up to all the expats currently living in Brazil: Don’t forget that Sunday is Valentine’s Day.

The good thing is that we get two Valentine’s Days each year: February 14th and June 12th. The bad news is that it is a pain trying to remember the date here in Brazil (if you somehow miss the TV advertising, the storefront window displays, and the hints perhaps dropped by your loved one).

I’m told that in Brazil the date is in June to move it out from under the cloud of Carnaval, which overshadows everything in the early months of the year. The anniversary of the Christian Bishop Valentine’s beheading for performing clandestine weddings apparently is not sufficient to keep the date February 14th, but the eve of Christian Saint Anthony’s feast day (the marriage or matchmaker saint) fits the bill. (I’m sure Ray will clear this up.)

If I remember my folklore right – if you want to find a mate to marry you can bury a statue of Saint Anthony upside-down and scold it, insisting he find you a match. You then leave poor Anthony there until he delivers.

When I was growing up in Michigan, Saint Anthony was known as the patron saint of lost causes. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a connection…

At any rate, don’t forget your special someone on Sunday.

Oh, and from the eternal wisdom of Dan Savage, venerated radical sex advice columnist, if you are looking for a little coochie coochie on Valentines Day – DO NOT first load up on dinner and drinks expecting to come home and do the deed. You will just hit the bed and fall asleep. Play first, then go out to dinner to celebrate! ** Ear muff the kids. NSFW. Watch Dan explain. Adult content.

Cultural da Índia event report back

Wow. Wow. That was amazing.

Last night Luiz and I joined a couple friends to attend a music and dance performance by Indian artists at the Sala Baden Powell cultural space in Copacabana. It featured about 50 minutes of mind blowing music and drumming by Anuradha Pal and her group “Recharge.” And then about 40 minutes of exquisite dance by Arunima Kumar, with live musical accompaniment.

The performances were part of a cultural exchange festival sponsored by the Indian Consulate and the Brazilian Cultural Ministry, among others. The event, in Rio, started on May 19^th and will conclude May 22^nd. The event continues through June 5^th, touring through São Paulo, Brasilia, and then Belo Horizontes.  You can find the schedule and additional information here.

Check out this video of master drummer and composer Anuradha Pal.  Her website is here. She was AMAZING.

Here is a video of Arunima Kumar performing a number similar to one of the three she presented last night.  Really beautiful.

Keep in mind that tonight in Rio is a different performance than what we saw last night (so I cannot comment on its impact, but I bet it will be wonderful). To see what we saw, you would want to go May 22^nd. Oh, and if you go, sit in the balcony.  It is a small theater, so you will not be too far back.  The main floor seating is odd in that it slopes DOWNWARD away from the stage, so you cannot see the dance performer's feet, which would be best.

Festa Junina with friends

Festa Junina is a time to celebrate the harvest (it's fall-winter here); but in reality it seems it is a time for city folk to poke fun at country folk. OK, maybe that’s not fair. Country folk are also poking fun at country folk. It’s a time to celebrate how things were, back when folks lived on a farm.

Think Li’l Abner and Daisy Mae. Think Jethro, Elly Mae, granny Moses and J. D. Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies. Think shotgun weddings.

There is always a country band, a bon fire, an old aunt looking to hook you up with that nice single girl, and surely in the background there is the distinct smell of corn cooking in all its variations.

Our group of friends just celebrated Festa Junina. We rented a small farm, paid for a band, supported all the women elders to cook traditional foods, heated up a big pot of Quentão, had space indoors on the floor for almost everybody to spend the night (some pitched tents) – and threw one heck of a party.

I must confess that I have yet to match my Brazilian friends in their ability to party for 17 hours straight. We left our house at 11:00 a.m., joined a party in progress, drove to the sítio (small farm), hung out at a nearby barzinho, warmed up the party grounds, welcomed our visitors, danced, ate and laughed for hours and hours.

In full tilt the party consumed a river of beer, ate everything in sight danced to traditional music and even brought everyone together for a traditional quadrillia (square dance).

Then after the band left at 3:30 a.m. we sang together with Wellington playing the guitar for another hour and a half.

Honestly – It’s hard to keep up! I must admit that I took two one hour naps during the duration of this party. Natives older than I plowed through with gusto!

The next morning we shared coffee, bread and cheese, leftover corn sweets and sat in the sun while Victor played the guitar.

Ahhh – qualidade de vida. (And we have been invited to another party next weekend in another town.)

Te Amo Amor

It’s Valentines Day here in Brazil. I love it that those of us who are here from the United States (and other spots) enjoy TWO Valentines Days per year. Sweet stuff.

If you are without a Valentine, fear not. The Brazilians have it all figured out. Valentines Day has been plunked down on June 12th because it is the eve of the Day of Saint Anthony. You know him – he’s the saint you pray to when you want to find a husband.

The story goes that when Valentines Day was brought to Brazil from Europe (way back when) the traditional date of February 14 (the day of Saint Valentine’s death) was a non-starter. It was too mixed up with Carnaval. So they logically tagged it onto the celebration of Saint Anthony, the matchmaker.

I have it on good authority (old Brazilian women) that you can strong-arm Saint Anthony into matching you up with your special someone. All you do is bury a statue of Saint Anthony upside-down and tell him you will not right him until he does right by you. Or if you really want to get his attention, remove the baby Jesus from his arms (on the traditional statue) and promise not to return him until you have been sent your match.

Good luck with that.

Festa Junina

It’s time for Festa Junina. Every year around the feast days of Saint Anthony, John the Baptist and Saint Peter schools, churches, clubs and neighborhoods host festivals that celebrate rural life. It’s a bit like harvest festivals in the US.

It’s everything country. The (younger/teens) guys dress up in plaid shirts with patches and straw hats. The gals wear red checkered skirts, put their hair in pig tails, add freckles and rosy cheeks, and some blacken out a tooth or two. It’s a well-meaning and fun spoof on country living.

The food [It’s all about the food!] is basically every way you can cook up some corn: on the cob, in a paste (savory or sweet) wrapped in husk and steamed, into a pudding, into a cake, in a sweetened lumpy soup – delicious traditional dishes served only this time of year. Everyone has their favorite, with memories of how they loved it when they were little.

No outdoor festival is complete without sweets. On this occasion there was a chocolate booth including caramel apples, a sugary coconut booth and a sweet crepes-on-a-stick booth. Diabetes? Who has diabetes? Not at a Festa Junina party!

We went during the daytime, so the crowd was just trickling in. The party went until after 2 a.m. The stage usually features country music bands and a quadrilha caller (square dance). Late in the evening there is typically a mock shotgun wedding, in true country style.

There will be a festival, somewhere in our city, every weekend throughout June and into July. We will be there!

Visiting historic Paraty

Following 5 days in Trindade we took a local bus up to Paraty, an historic colonial town founded in 1667 (although the quiet harbor area is thought to have been first discovered in 1531). There is a well preserved historic district that features 25 (little) square blocks of historic buildings and ankle-twisting boulder paved roads. It is a beautiful town.

By coincidence we were there at the time of the “Festival of the Divine Holy Spirit.” In addition to Catholic religious ceremonies unique to the occasion, there were dozens of great food and drink booths set up in the main square, plus a huge stage with live entertainment nightly. Lucky us to have chanced upon a big public party.

Paraty is rather known for its monthly festivals and events – they keep the pousadas and restaurants full!

Luiz spent a few days in Paraty last August and had found a sweet little pousada with an even sweeter proprietress, so once we arrived we set out to find her hideaway and secure a room. Jane, our hostess, remembered Luiz instantly. After they exchanged hugs and kisses and we all cooed over her 6 month old grandson, she gave us her best room.

Everything was great: the room, the amenities and of course the breakfast! If you are ever looking for a pousada in Paraty VERY NEAR the historic district (at 1/3 the price of pousadas within the district) check out Pouso Mel de Liz.

One new find this time around was a beach bar and self-described “World Music Club” in Jabaquara (the northern district of Paraty). It was great. The owner had just moved back to Paraty with his wife after running a pousada in Trancoso (great town in Bahia) for the past 14 years. His little beach bar was truly a little corner of Trancoso. Great vibe.

New to me, although Luiz had been there before some 30 years ago, was a visit to the “Big Tobagan.” It is a huge sloping waterfall that you can slide down (when the weather is warmer). While we visited the river/waterfall we were fortunate to be there when a proud local came to “surf” the waterfall. Great to watch, but I won’t be trying that any time soon.

Finally, our favorite thing unique to Paraty (although the fine restaurants with live music are a close second), was the Grupo Contadores de Estórias adult puppet theater. If you go to Paraty you absolutely MUST see their work, performed in a tiny 100 person theater space. The puppetry is ‘direct manipulation’ by masters draped in black. The scenes are universal in their charm and performed without words, just music. This company has performed all over the world. We were THRILLED that the company had just returned from Spain so we could see them again. Performances are on Wednesday and Saturday only.

Here is a brief video from their website where two old folks are flirting. Although the video is halting at times you get the feel. The actual performance is accompanied by music only, without lyrics. Check it out.

Easter procession in Ouro Preto

Describing the mountain town of Ouro Preto (Black Gold) goes so far beyond anything that can be contained in a single blog post. It requires breaking the rules. In fact, witnessing the Easter procession through the city boggles the mind in terms of trying to tell others of the experience. So in this case I am going to post many, many photos to help communicate just how incredible our Easter getaway in Ouro Preto was with our friends Carlos and Dü.

Sometime around 1698 gold was discovered in the area now known as Ouro Preto. As you can imagine it was not long before it was a very popular place. By 1728 there were more than 40,000 people swarming in this remote mountainous town. Sad to say – many were African slaves brought to do the hard work of mining the precious metal (not to mention building the roads, constructing the many churches, tending the fields and all other acts of labor, hard and otherwise).









What brought us to Ouro Preto this time (we have been three times prior) was the traditional Easter procession that involves most of the community participating in making graphic carpets of natural materials depicting religious themes along nearly 4 kilometers of streets, plus others as actors in the procession portraying the death and (the so-told) resurrection of Jesus. Once the procession begins, they walk over all the carpets from one select church to another. It is amazing.

[people begin at about 9:00 pm the night before, crafting their carpet]




[these three boys worked together - so cute]



[we awoke to a fantastic display of carpets]





[many houses along the route hung out their best linen, or Easter-specific banners]





















[this was the final destination church]


[the procession began]


[many young angels - SO cute!]







[it was an hour long procession - but I didn't get many good photos...]


[the priest brought up the rear - all done]