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1. 1 2024-01-12T08:09:52-08:00 Eliseo Jacob f7b70f08c944fb80b73895df0d1f52d7156b4401 Espaço Clariô: IV FELIZS Festival Eliseo Jacob 2 Important theater space in the periphery and the location of the first performance of Auto do Negrinho during the IV FELIZS Festival September 2018. structured_gallery 2024-07-06T07:33:20-07:00 Eliseo Jacob f7b70f08c944fb80b73895df0d1f52d7156b4401

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• 1 2024-01-12T08:09:51-08:00 Congada, Ritual, and Resistance 2 The costumes, percussion, and dancing used in the Auto do Negrinho play are rooted in the congada tradition. This Afro-Brazilian cultural practice can be traced back to the 1600s in Brazil. The specific congada tradition used in the play comes from the Arturos community, which was founded in 1880 in Contagem, Minas Gerais state. plain 2024-07-06T07:29:12-07:00

  Most of the performative and ritualistic elements included in the Auto de Negrinho play (dancing, percussive instruments, and singing) are based on the popular tradition of the Congada. The Congada is a popular Afro-Catholic tradition that can trace its roots back to the 17th century in Brazil when enslaved Africans' religious practices were incorporated into Catholicism.  During the colonial period, Black Catholic brotherhoods held feasts as way to worship Black patron saints, but experienced severe repression from local authorities, including from the Catholic church. Despite the cultural and political persecution, these groups found ways to incorporate their musical and dance traditions into Catholic practices, culminating in the coronation of a queen and king during the our Lady of the Rosary feasts. 
  
  While there are different forms of congada that have developed throughout Brazil, Teatro Terreiro Encantado calls upon the congada tradition from the central state of Minas Gerais, specifically that of the Arturos community in Contagem, which is a municipality on the periphery of Minas Gerais' largest city, Belo Horizonte.  The Arturos' dedication to the congada tradition can be seen as a symbol of struggle and resistance to the legacy of slavery and white supremacy in Brasil, making them a powerful reference for Teatro Terreiro Encantado's goal to use popular Afro-Brazilian traditions in their theater work. The Arturos community was founded in 1880 and celebrate festivals centered around Black history and Black saints, including the anniversary of the abolishment of slavery (May 13), Our Lady of the Rosary feast (October), festivals to do with João do Mato (December), and even festivals that incorporate Afro-Brazilian popular music and dance like candombe and batuque.¹ 
   

  The rituals enacted in the congada not only venerate saints tied to the Catholic church, but are practices meant to preserve histories and traditions tied to their African roots. The importance of these practices become even more pronounced when placed within the context of practitioners being forced to find ways to survive in the face of rejection by priests in the Catholic church, ridicule by local residents, and being labeled as followers of witchcraft. The actors in Teatro Terreiro Encantado take on the traditions of the congada and include the adorations towards the saints São Bendito and the Virgin Mary as a way to highlight the sacredness of the story of Negrinho as symbol of survival and Black resistance that must be preserved and told to newer generations.

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  Footnotes

  1. Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra. "Os Arturos e o Congado: Símbolo de Luta e Resistência para O Povo Mineiro." January 8, 2010. ↵