Parintins

Parintins is a city in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. Situated on the banks of the Amazon River, Parintins is known for a popular folklore festival held there each June.

Parintins and the boi-bumbá

Parintins is an unremarkable small town on an island in the Amazon River, roughly halfway between Santarem and Manaus. In April 2000 it came briefly to notice as the location of a ‘Conference on the 500 Years of the Indigenous Peoples’, on the fortunes of the Amazonian Indians since their first meeting with Western civilisation. However, it is chiefly known as the unlikely centre of one of the largest mass events in Brazil, the Boi Bumba celebrations. These take place annually in the weekend before June 24th.

The boi-bumbá is a very popular and widespread comic-dramatic dance, which tells the story of the death and resurrection of an ox. It started at the end of the 18th century in the coastal sugar plantations and cattle ranches of northeastern Brazil and from there it spread to the north and south. Its name comes from the verb bumbar, meaning to beat up or against, and the expression is chanted by the crowd as an invitation for the ox (the men under the ox costume) to charge against them.

The original story behind the Boi Bumba festivities is about a slave couple called Catarina and Chico (or Pai Francisco) who lived and worked on a farm. Catarina was pregnant and had a craving to eat ox's tongue and so her husband Chico went and killed the farm’s best ox. The farm owner was so angry that his prize ox had been killed that he decided to kill the couple. Before he could kill them, St John the Baptist visited the farm owner's dreams and warned him not to kill the couple. Spiritual leaders, called Curandeiros, came to the farm and joined the couple to use the power of drumming to resurrect the ox and the farm owner didn't kill the couple.

For three nights every June, near the feast of the Birthday of St John the Baptist, the town of Parintins comes alive to recreate the story. Someone clearly saw the potential for tourism in this celebration. What began as a local custom has now become a huge spectacle, which attracts tens of thousands of spectators to a stadium unforgettably called the Bumbódromo, constructed in the shape of a stylized bull. It hosts a wild, energetic parade by something resembling an Amazonian version of Rio samba schools—and the resemblance to Rio is not coincidental, the organizers having consciously modelled themselves on Rio’s Carnaval.

To celebrate this festival, the whole town splits into two teams, to present a pageant of sight and sound that is unlike anything outside of the region. Each team is led by a person dressed as an ox. There is the Garantido team, supporting the black ox, who wear red, and the Caprichoso, supporting the white ox, who wear blue. Each team gathers more than 3,000 performers, including some 500 drummers.

The dance and parade, with huge floats and fabulous costumes, features human and animal characters, and fantastic creatures from Brazilian Indian mythology, such as the Caipora (the spirit of the hunt, like a hairy little Indian, fond of tobacco, and riding a wild boar through the forest) to the sounds of music and singing. There are usually a group of singers and the "chamador" or caller, who introduces the characters with different songs. The instruments used are the acoustic guitar, Brazilian tambourine, tamborim, and accordion.

The contest lasts for three nights and is taken very seriously—you must never, ever, cheer for the opposing team.

Virtually every person in the town will be dressed in red, for the "Garantido" black ox, or blue, for the "Caprichoso"white ox. The fans of the oxen never say the name of the other group. They refer to each other as "contrário" (something like ‘the opposition’). Some of the houses are painted with red or blue to indicate the preferences of the family. Even public phones are decorated according to the tradition.

During the whole year, local craftsmen work on the fancy dresses and every Saturday there is a rehearsal for the yearly festival. By arrangement, musicians and dancers perform highlights of the show for passengers from visiting cruise ships.

At festival time, in June, the passion for the oxen can change everything, even one of the most powerful brands in the world: in Parintins, besides the classic one, one can find a blue Coke, to please the "Caprichoso" fans. Some years ago, even special blue Coke cans were manufactured for selling only in Parintins.

At the end of the celebration, the teams are judged in twenty-two categories including best music, best crowd support, best ox and best floats. On the fourth morning the winner is announced and the triumphant team put on a street parade.

While the roots of the Boi Bumba are two centuries old, and Parintins has been celebrating it for about 80 years, the contest in this spectacular form dates only to the 1990s, and probably owes as much to the Rio samba schools, and contemporary Brazilian rhythms and themes, as to local Amazonian folklore and indigenous culture. But the parade is a feast for the eyes, and the music foot-tappingly infectious. The whole experience is hugely enjoyable, and brings an enormous benefit to the people of the town, which has precious little else to fuel its economy. Thousands of people get through the rest of the year on the proceeds of catering for the huge influx of visitors during the festivities.