Belated posting on Sunday afternoon - internet access at our hotel went on the blink Friday night . . . remind ALL of us to never complain about slow service in the US again. The access we had made dial-up look speedy!
For us, the Friday before the team was scheduled to arrive brought a few more last minute details and shopping for supplies, including beads for the 13 extra bracelets we missed because of our miscalculated Portguese math the day before. But for Brazilians, Friday brought something far more important - the beginning of the Festival of St. John!
Here's what Wikipedia says . . . "The Portuguese Midsummer Day (St John's Day) brought to Brazil during colonial times has become a very important popular event that is celebrated during a period that starts one week before St John's Day and ends one week after. As this nationwide festival, called "Festa Junina" (Saint John Festival), happens during the European midsummer, it takes place in the Brazilian midwinter and is most associated with Northeastern Brazil, but today celebrated in the whole country." (There's more about the festival at the bottom of this post, if you're interested.)
Here's what we say . . . WOWEEEE! (We're far more simple in Texas!) We had a few spare hours in the afternoon, so Ilma and her sister Lucy took us out to show us some of the various festival activities that were near our shopping needs. In about three hours, we had a whirlwind trip to HUGE open-air market, were blessed to enter one the oldest and most beautiful churches in Recife during the St. John's mass, and went to an old prision that has been turned into a craft marketplace. Okay, so it is a tad bit unnerving to enter individual prision cells to shop for Brazilian lace and sculptures, but the live music made it tolerable. I was just really glad I never heard those heavy iron doors clang behind me!
Cindy owns a retail shop in Fort Worth called Details & Dragonflies, and every year she tries to purchase several special items native to Brazil that she will sell at home. Even better, 100% of the profits from the sale of these items go straight back to Volunteers for Christ to help the Recife children. This year, she's already found some w0nderful handcrafted pottery statues of St. Francis and St. Anthony, as well as some beautiful towels adorned with the most intricate lace you've ever seen. VFC will receive at least $2,000 from the sale of just these two items, so you Fort Worth folks, be sure and plan to stop by the shop and pick up some of these gifts with a purpose.
Here's a few photos from our Brazilian festival experience . . .
More about the Festival of St. John from Wikipedia . .
As the northeast is largely arid or semi-arid these popular festivals not only coincide with the rainy seasons of most states in the northeast but they also provide the people with an opportunity to give thanks to Saint John for the rain. They also celebrate rural life and feature typical clothing, food, dance (particularly quadrilha, which is similar to square dancing). Like Midsummer and Saint John's Day in Portugal and Scandinavian countries, São João celebrates marital union. The "quadrilha" features couple formations around a mock wedding whose bride and groom are the central attraction of the dancing.
Usually taking place in an arraial, a large, open space outdoors, men dress up as farm boys with suspenders and large straw hats and women wear pigtails, freckles, painted gap teeth and red-checkered dresses, all in a loving tribute to the origins of Brazilian country music and of themselves, some of whom are recent immigrants from the countryside to cities such as Olinda, Recife, Maceió and Salvador, and some return to the rural areas during the festival to visit their families. However, nowadays, Saint John festivities are extremely popular in all urban areas and among all social classes. In the Northeast, they are as popular as Carnival. It should be noted that, like during Carnival, these festivities involve costume-wearing (in this case, peasant costumes), dancing, heavy drinking, and visual spectacles (bonfires, fireworks display, and folk dancing).
Two northeastern towns in particular have competed with each other for the title of "Biggest Saint John Festival in the World", namely Caruaru (in the state of Pernambuco), and Campina Grande, in Paraíba state. In fact, Caruaru features in the Guinness Book of World Records for holding the biggest outdoor country festival. As Saint John festivities also coincide with the corn harvest, dishes served during this period are commonly made with corn, such as canjica and pamonha; dishes also include peanuts, potatoes sausages and also sweet rice. The celebrations are very colorful and festive and include amazing pyrotechnics. Bonfires and fire in general are thus one of the most important features of these festivities, a feature that is among the remnants of midsummer pagan rituals in the Iberian Peninsula.
For us, the Friday before the team was scheduled to arrive brought a few more last minute details and shopping for supplies, including beads for the 13 extra bracelets we missed because of our miscalculated Portguese math the day before. But for Brazilians, Friday brought something far more important - the beginning of the Festival of St. John!
Here's what Wikipedia says . . . "The Portuguese Midsummer Day (St John's Day) brought to Brazil during colonial times has become a very important popular event that is celebrated during a period that starts one week before St John's Day and ends one week after. As this nationwide festival, called "Festa Junina" (Saint John Festival), happens during the European midsummer, it takes place in the Brazilian midwinter and is most associated with Northeastern Brazil, but today celebrated in the whole country." (There's more about the festival at the bottom of this post, if you're interested.)
Here's what we say . . . WOWEEEE! (We're far more simple in Texas!) We had a few spare hours in the afternoon, so Ilma and her sister Lucy took us out to show us some of the various festival activities that were near our shopping needs. In about three hours, we had a whirlwind trip to HUGE open-air market, were blessed to enter one the oldest and most beautiful churches in Recife during the St. John's mass, and went to an old prision that has been turned into a craft marketplace. Okay, so it is a tad bit unnerving to enter individual prision cells to shop for Brazilian lace and sculptures, but the live music made it tolerable. I was just really glad I never heard those heavy iron doors clang behind me!
Cindy owns a retail shop in Fort Worth called Details & Dragonflies, and every year she tries to purchase several special items native to Brazil that she will sell at home. Even better, 100% of the profits from the sale of these items go straight back to Volunteers for Christ to help the Recife children. This year, she's already found some w0nderful handcrafted pottery statues of St. Francis and St. Anthony, as well as some beautiful towels adorned with the most intricate lace you've ever seen. VFC will receive at least $2,000 from the sale of just these two items, so you Fort Worth folks, be sure and plan to stop by the shop and pick up some of these gifts with a purpose.
Here's a few photos from our Brazilian festival experience . . .
More about the Festival of St. John from Wikipedia . .
As the northeast is largely arid or semi-arid these popular festivals not only coincide with the rainy seasons of most states in the northeast but they also provide the people with an opportunity to give thanks to Saint John for the rain. They also celebrate rural life and feature typical clothing, food, dance (particularly quadrilha, which is similar to square dancing). Like Midsummer and Saint John's Day in Portugal and Scandinavian countries, São João celebrates marital union. The "quadrilha" features couple formations around a mock wedding whose bride and groom are the central attraction of the dancing.
Usually taking place in an arraial, a large, open space outdoors, men dress up as farm boys with suspenders and large straw hats and women wear pigtails, freckles, painted gap teeth and red-checkered dresses, all in a loving tribute to the origins of Brazilian country music and of themselves, some of whom are recent immigrants from the countryside to cities such as Olinda, Recife, Maceió and Salvador, and some return to the rural areas during the festival to visit their families. However, nowadays, Saint John festivities are extremely popular in all urban areas and among all social classes. In the Northeast, they are as popular as Carnival. It should be noted that, like during Carnival, these festivities involve costume-wearing (in this case, peasant costumes), dancing, heavy drinking, and visual spectacles (bonfires, fireworks display, and folk dancing).
Two northeastern towns in particular have competed with each other for the title of "Biggest Saint John Festival in the World", namely Caruaru (in the state of Pernambuco), and Campina Grande, in Paraíba state. In fact, Caruaru features in the Guinness Book of World Records for holding the biggest outdoor country festival. As Saint John festivities also coincide with the corn harvest, dishes served during this period are commonly made with corn, such as canjica and pamonha; dishes also include peanuts, potatoes sausages and also sweet rice. The celebrations are very colorful and festive and include amazing pyrotechnics. Bonfires and fire in general are thus one of the most important features of these festivities, a feature that is among the remnants of midsummer pagan rituals in the Iberian Peninsula.
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