![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
I argue for the power and value of food and foodways as an assertion of identity politics. A Festa de Divino Espírito Santo, the Afro-Catholic festival of the Holy Spirit, is quite prominent in the liturgical calendar of the Tambor de Mina and Candomblé communities of Sao Luis do Maranhão, Brazil. This intersection of religio-cultural syncretism, glocal tourism and commensality asserts African-Brazilian racial identity and fealty. This multidisciplinary ethnography will include historical analysis of corresponding religious traditions and tourist marketing messages. Additionally, it identifies the role and indigenous knowledge of women supplicants, and how the festival is a marker of Maranhensidade (Maranhão-ness).
Notes
1. In Genesis and the book of Ezekiel as the four guardians of god’s most holy domains.
2. Nkisi are supplicants who receive the spirits of the deities in Tambor de Mina ceremonies. These women know the dances, songs, specialty foods, and musical rhythms needed to sustain the Tambor practice.
3. The allegorical plantation entertainment drama centered on a prized bull.
4. Nunes, Aldemar. 2014. Etornourgente, https://www.entornourgente.com/2014/04/festa-do-divino-2014.html; https://tinyurl.com/hn3stsb.
5. Casa Fanti-Ashanti royal court consists of: the emperor, empress, prince, princess and two attendants.
6. Babalorixá, or Pai de Santo, father of the orixás is the title given to a Candomblé high priest. Since Tambor de Mina has a matrilineal hierarchy based upon the ideologies of Vodun. Males as secondary leaders are vodunos, and women, vodunisis.
7. Oxaguiã is a dynamic, cunning warrior orixá, dedicated to the constructive evolution of culture, sustenance and peace. He favors work and overcoming obstacles and utilising ingenuity to improve his lot and that of his followers. ‘Never enter a battle to lose, always winning one’s struggles and overcoming any obstacles.‘ Oxaguiã is passionate for pounded yam. Oxaguiã, the orixá related to right livelihood, also enjoys an abundant table. He holds all the weapons and uses them to achieve their goals, which are: to give the hungry and to take from those who have much and are not hungry. He is a young Oxala. Oxaguiã is clothed and identified with white and silver. He has been aligned to god the father. (Verger Citation1997, 105, 106).
8. In Yoruba mythology the feminine deity Oxum rules on freshwater, rivers and waterfalls, love, intimacy, beauty, prosperity and diplomacy. She is a daughter of Iemanjá and Oxalá. Her name comes from the Osun River, which runs in Yorubaland, in the Nigerian region of Ijexá and Ijebu. Through Oxum the faithful seek help for troubleshooting in love, since she is responsible for successful unions and financial success. Oxum’s children are: sweet, sentimental, heartfelt, and extremely vain and conquerors, who love luxury and social life. She loves Omolucum a mixture of boiled eggs and cooked black-eyed peas (Verger Citation1997, 67–70).
9. As Caixeiras do Divino, drum corps of elderly women who play tin drums similar to those used by soldiers in military parades. Their cylindrical drums painted red and white or blue and white and have gut membranes on both sides. The heads are held fast and tuned by adjusting side ropes. Their drums are played with wooden sticks. The Caixeiras March in Divino processions aligned to their temple or as ad hoc members consigned by temples that lack a complement of players. They chant songs in praise of the Holy Ghost sung in a syncopated call and response or round style led by A Caixeira Regía, regal drummer woman. The ensembles generally are configured by exponential groupings of three, 6, 9, 12, 15, et cetera. While highly prized and the cornerstone of the festa, they receive monetary remuneration as well as food, transportation monies, gifts, groceries and often a clothing allowance for their simple white/red long skirts and handmade white/red lace blouses. During the festa the Caixeiras will often dance under the carved and painted wooden 4–6 meter mastro, pole/mast, crowned with a white dove; and before The Caixeiras March in Divino processions aligned to their temple or as ad hoc members Império, or royal court accompanied by younger girls holding banners.
10. Enskilment is derived from Harry Collins redefinition of skill as the site at which technology, history, social relations, and political economy converge. This concept further problematizes the idea and perception of globalization as a predetermined discourse, implying the demise of traditional skills and handmade products in deference to the power and efficiency of modern technology. The notion of enskilment, a term coined by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, encompasses the harnessing of specific information, bodily practices, and dexterity associated with labor and physical production. Enskilment is seen as the critical moment of socialization of new actors through apprenticeship, in specific ‘communities of practice,’ and as a fundamental mechanism of situated learning (Collins, de Vries, and Bijker Citation1997).
11. He had recently fainted on the street while shopping for temple supplies. He sprained his wrist and knee, broke a tooth and needed some stitches in his head. All due to low blood pressure and sugar levels.