Hello my dear ones. I apologize for the suspense. These past few days have been jam-packed with new sights, ideas and experiences that I am finally ready and excited to tell you about.
Sunday night after I finished writing my paper for Contemporary Brazilian Culture, I watched Blood Diamond with Conchita, Isa, and Favio. May I just say that Conchita is the cutest thing ever! She gets just about as involved in movies as I do (which is note-worthy) and we squirmed through the movie entire together. She is also precious when she goes up to hug someone because she wraps her arms all the way around their waste and grins up at him/her. She loves a good joke too and has the most cheerful disposition. She’s always making jokes with Berna (the housekeeper) or playing a prank on someone. Today she went into Luciana’s room today singing, “Tenho um preseeeeente, preseeeeeente, preseeeeente…” and handed her an empty box of chocolate, then came into the kitchen giggling to tell Berna and me about Luciana’s response.
Monday I left the house at 8 AM so that I could go to an Internet Café to print my paper. In culture class we talked about Brazilian soccer, its history, and its importance. Jeferson Bacelar, my professor, claims that soccer is so popular here because it represents the Brazilian dream of equality and mobility. The poor, uneducated, and/or colored person can be a hero if he is gifted on the field. That isn’t to say that discrimination hasn’t been or isn’t currently present within the realm of soccer, but it has been a space within the society that the people, especially the poor, black and marginalized, have claimed as there own. When the local or national team wins, the entire city or country becomes joyful. Of course, on the other hand, this passion and team loyalty can also lead to instances of violence, but that is not a unique problem to
After my afternoon class I came back home and spent about 15 minutes online to send off a few e-mails, then left for the capoeira class. The capoeira school is just one block over from my house which is very convenient. As we approached we could hear the music from the berimbau, drums and singing all the way down the street. (A berimbau is a one string instrument played with a coin. It is what the man is holding in my capoeira picture.) We started out with stretching and running around the room. Then the instructor yelled out commands for us to craw backward like a crab, bend from the waist and walk on all fours with your knees straight, etc. It reminded me of elementary school PE class and it was hard to maintain seriousness with everyone crawling on the floor like animals. A group of about 10 of us were all first-timers so the capoeira master broke us off into a smaller group to learn the basics. We started with the basic movement called ginga. It is side-to-side swinging motion to the rhythm of music that prepares your body for the other moves. Essentially you start with your feet shoulder length apart, then move the right foot back and left your left arm across your face as if to block a blow, return to the center position, and then move the left foot back and raise your right arm. Throughout the motion you maintain your knees bent and move your torso forward and backward in sync with your foot movements. Next we covered a few attacks and blocks. Most of these moves I already knew from my Brazilian dance class, but I was thankful for the familiarity. Attacks in capoeira are done through kicks, head butts and sometimes the elbow. Monday we covered about 4 different kicks, 2 blocks, and the aú (cartwheel). For the end of class we rejoined the more advanced students and formed 2 rodas, or circles. Two people enter the roda at a time and fight each other until someone else steps in. Capoeria is difficult to describe because it is something between a martial art and a dance. It was developed by the slaves as form of resistance and training that of course had to carefully disguise as something harmless and recreational. It is very much a game of cunning from its seemingly innocuous dance-like qualities, to the constant vigilance required to anticipate the actions of your opponent and perceive his/her weaknesses. For last half hour the two rodas combined into one, the lights were dimmed and we watched the master fight some of his most advanced students. Although most of the time capoeira is a non-contact sport, the master would often test his students and actually strike them to show them their vulnerabilities. I also saw for the first time the chamada which literally means the “call.” I don’t know much about it but basically the student would approach the master slowly and carefully, measuring his height with their hands. Then the two did a dance like motion walking back and forth together touching palms until the master would initiate the fight again. When I left at 9:30 they were still going but after 2.5 hours, I was exhausted! Here I am four days later and the back of my thighs are still stiff from all the kicking.
Tuesday morning the culture class was on capoeira- lucky me! We met 20 minutes before class and drove over to a community called Barriga da égua which literally translates as “Mare’s belly.” Carol, one of the program coordinators, explained that is was a type of favela or slum, or to be poltically correct a communidade. Capoeira is heavily practiced in the community and has helped to keep some of the street children there out of the life of crime by teaching them discipline and giving them a skill that they can use to earn an honest living. At the capoeira school we visited there we met three young men who are now instructors that were taken from the street as boys of 5-6 years old and made into role models for others in the community. We learned more about the history of capoeira, although I must confess that I was pretty sleepy Tuesday morning. I had to wake up extra early to finish my homework for my language class, so I was slightly less than attentive, but I did gather that capoeira was made illegal in 1892 just four years after emancipation. The “freed” slaves had no money, no jobs, and no home so they spent their time drinking and practicing capoeira, which left the whites ill-at-ease. It thrived however, behind closed doors until 1937 when Getulio Vargas, the president of
In the afternoon after my language class we went to dinner and the soccer game of
At the game the fun and excitement continued. Apparently some sort of disagreement erupted (probably regarding team loyalties) and we saw a swarm of about 40 people running over to the conflict area with shirts wrapped around their fists. The police were there also and later we saw a few people being taken away, but we avoided the action and moved to the other side of the stadium. The soccer was pretty sloppy- much worse than the last game I saw.
Wednesday in my culture class we had a dance instructor come in and teach us Afro-Brazilian dance. Unlike Tuesday, the instructor spent only about 10 minutes talking and went straight into the practice. He showed us the basics and put together a few sequences that we did in pairs across the room. By the end of the class he had us improvising, which proved immensely entertaining. Let me just take this opportunity to explain the dynamics of the group that I’m with. We are from all over the
After my Portuguese language class we went to dinner and a candomblé ceremony. I’ve been spoiled this week with all these buffet dinners! Wednesday the restaurant was a bit more elaborate than Tuesday and all the food was very rich and heavy. I had trouble identifying what exactly I was eating, but I did have a really delicious soup that I think was creamed spinach and chicken.
Candomblé, as I have briefly explained, is an African religion very popular in this region. It is not considered to be a mutually exclusive religion so it is commonly mixed with Catholicism. I read a book in a Portuguese literature class at Tulane about a man who made a promise to Saint Barbara that he would make a pilgrimage to her church carrying a huge cross all the way if she interceded for him to cure his donkey. The priest at the church refused to let him enter the church because it was sacrilegious and associated with candomblé practices. Only after a series of tragedies and his own death, the man enters the church stretched out on the cross.
Many of the candomblé deities have corresponding saints from the Catholic Church and the church has had a long struggle banning these practices. The church has depicted many of the deities as Satan, but their popularity has persisted. (See picture to the right of Exo characterized as the devil.) Essentially, cadomblé teaches that the supreme God created many spirits with individual personalities and skills. You are chosen by one or more of these spirits at birth, which one(s) is later identified by a priest.
For example, Naña is the orixá of mud, still water, and death. She is the protector of the old and the queen of wisdom. She loves lilac, blue, and white. Her day of worship is Saturday. Her “children” are those who are generally cheerful, but at times grumpy, known to talk to themselves, jealous, and rancorous. Xangô is a male figure known to be the lord of life. He hates death and sickness, is strikingly handsome, has power over women, and adores parties. His element is copper. He controls lightening and thunder and his colors are red and white. His children are generally suave, handsome, joyful, dignified, and protectors of justice. Etc.
We weren’t allowed to take any pictures during the ceremony and no one was allowed to wear black or shorts. The men and women entered on opposite sides of the room which was decorated with white paper decorations draped from the ceiling. There was some seating which consisted of wide steps in stadium-style seating, but there was not enough room for many of us to sit. I ended up standing on the top step with my view slightly obscured by all the ceiling decorations. For the first 45 minutes the elders representing different deities took turns doing their traditional dances, then food corresponding to each deity was brought out while the elders changed their clothes. After everyone ate all the elders came out and danced together… and that was pretty much it. We left before they finished because this week has been packed and we were all falling asleep. I must confess that I was pretty disappointed with the experience. It was a public ceremony so I felt that is was merely showy. Once again I got back to my house around 10:30-11ish and went straight to bed.
Thursday in my culture class we talked about the question of racism. Racism here is very different than what occurs in the
Schools here, for example, charge a fee for grade school through high school. Nearly all of these primary institutions are private. To go to college you must take an exam called the vestibular which is specific to the subject matter that you want to study. According to your test score, you are offered or denied a seat within your field of study. The best colleges are public and free if you are accepted. How does that make sense? How are the poor supposed to get to college if the government offers no quality primary education? The system is made by whites, for whites.
In my Portuguese class that afternoon we watched a film called O homen que copiava. It did an excellent job of dealing with some heavy subject matter without actually being heavy. It told the story of a man, André, who worked in a shop as the guy who makes photocopies. The movie opens with him checking out of the grocery store with only R$11.50 to spend. He had to constantly ask the girl behind the counter the subtotal and try to keep his purchases within his budget. Then, in the next scene you see him burning a pile of R$50 bills, which makes for an intriguing start.
His father left when he was 4-5 and after waiting 7 years for him to return, he told a kid on the schoolyard that he was afraid his dad wasn’t coming back. When André revealed how long his dad had been gone, the other kid started laughing, which was met with a punch that blinded the kid in one eye. André was kicked out of school at 12 years old, and his mother was so depressed since her husband left that she did nothing to try and reenroll him in another school.
He falls in love with a girl that he spies on with his binoculars from his room. From there the shy, awkward copy guy goes on to make counterfeit money on the color copier, rob a bank, win the lottery, evade a drug dealer after his money, and help murder the girl’s father. He does all this without ever becoming what I would consider a “criminal.” I don’t know if you can get it in the
It was finally a calm day and I came home and just rested after classes. I thought about going to capoeira, but I thought better of it and took the evening to check e-mails and talk with who I could on Skype.
Today (Friday) I slept in and took the morning to write all this out! It’s lunch time now and I’m planning on going to the
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