BATUQUES1
AND
MARACATUS
Children
adopt the majesty from an
early age Photo: Pio
Figueiroa |
|
In Recife,
from the first half of the 19th. century, the denomination maracatu
was used to describe any grouping together of negroes, as noted by José Antônio
Gonsalves de Mello in the Diario de
Pernambuco of 1st July,1845, when referring to the
escape of the slave girl Catarina:
On Easter
Monday, in the year just passed, the black slave girl Catarina, escaped.
She was from the Angolan nation, civilized, tall, thin, small
breasts, very black, a pleasant face, big red eyes, all her front
teeth, big feet pointing inwards, a great talker, always smiling and
22 years old. She had been found on the intersection of the roads Estrada da Nova da Passagem da Madalena
and Aterro dos Afogados, selling vegetables. On Sundays, she was to
be found taking
part in the maracatu dos coqueiros (The coconut palms maracatu) in the same
region. It is believed that her rightful place is in
Várzea (a district of Recife) and that indeed she is the slave property of
Manoel
Francisco da Silva, who resides at 10, Rua Estreita do Rosário, on
the third floor, just by the church. The said Manoel
Francisco da Silva, will generously reward anyone who can return her
to him.
|
DONA ROSINETE -
Yalorisha3
Photo: Pio Figueiroa |
|
During a specially
called meeting of the Recife City Council on 28th April 1851, it was
announced to the Chief of Police that "a petition has been
filed against the black African, Antônio Oliveira, known as the
King of the Congo, for holding nation meetings for public revelry.
It is therefore trusted that the Chief of Police will take the
necessary measures
in order to put an end to any similar meetings, vulgarly
called maracatus, thus putting an end to the unpleasant
consequences that they provoke." (Diario de
Pernambuco, 27.5.1851).
Maracatu,
in truth, was merely the negroes' batuque1, which had a fixed
meeting place in a determined district of the city. This conclusion
is reinforced by carnival artistic designer João Batista de Jesus,
"Veludinho" (Little velvet) of the Leão Coroado Maracatu (The Crowned
Lion Maracatu), who, according to tradition died at 110, and related to
the researcher Katarina Real2 in January 1966 that -
"Maracatu did not originally have the name maracatu.
The name was nation. One 'nation' would send official
correspondence to another 'state'. The word originated from the 'big men' .......when they heard the
big drums beating, they called it 'that maracatu' - that
damned racket." | 1Generic
designation for Afro-Brazilian dances and music. In the past it was sometimes used
disparagingly.
2
REAL, Katarina. O Folclore no Carnaval do
Recife. (Folklore in the Carnival of Recife) Recife: Editora Massangana, 1990. 2ªed. p. 184.
3 The female leaders of the African
religions.
|