Traditions and culture
Before I get into the deep thoughts, here are some pictures from the Easter Musical at the two projects where I work. The Liberdade performance was on Wednesday night, and the Sao Gabriel one was on Thursday night. After spending two days hearing those songs all day in rehearsals and the performances, the first part of the weekend, I kept catching myself humming parts of the musical.
LIBERDADE
Constructing a stage
I never cease to be amazed at how much is pulled together within a short time.
Valquiria and the crown of thorns
Brazilian creativity never ceases...cover rolled-up newspaper with cloth, insert toothpicks, and presto!
Most of the cast and some of the choir
Standing-room only
SÃO GABRIEL
The disciples
The crucifixion scene
Leia (the music/Christian Education teacher) congratulating the kids
The choir's moment of glory on the stage afterwards
So the big thing I've been thinking about as I've now experienced the two biggest Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter) in Brazil is what makes up your culture and how much of it can be successfully replaced with something else.
During Easter, I was interested to see what the Brazilian traditions would be, but it's very difficult to differentiate what is a particular family's traditions, what is a particular religious denomination's traditions (more on that in a minute) and what is a country-wide tradition. One thing that is very cool is that Portuguese uses the same word for Passover and Easter, "Pascoa," differentiating Passover by calling it "Pascoa Judia." This leaves no ambiguity from whence the Easter holiday arises. The most wide-spread Easter tradition that I noticed across-the-board was the purchasing and giving of elaborately wrapped chocolate Easter eggs. I was happy to receive one on Thursday along with the rest of the staff of the two projects after our staff Easter lunch of salted codfish.
It seems that the larger holiday in Brazil is Good Friday (called "Holy Friday," it is a national holiday), where families tend to gather and eat salted codfish or some other type of fish. I went to the Good Friday service in the morning at the Central Methodist Church downtown. The mood was not as sombre as I was used to, and I was surprised that the bishop even focused on the resurrection in part of his sermon. (I'm more accustomed to a sad, introspective Good Friday service where you concentrate on the crucifixion.) Easter Sunday, I went to an early Sunday school (it really was a mini-worship service) followed by a breakfast. I recognized a couple of the traditional Easter songs from the U.S. and heard a few catchy new ones. People were not more dressed up than usual, unlike in the U.S., which is probably a good thing. In my travels around the city on Sunday, it didn't seem any different from a normal Sunday. I was blessed to spend both Good Friday and Easter with a family from my church that has jokingly adopted me as another "daughter."
Although it's been interesting to see what Christmas and Easter are like in Brazil, I've found myself missing my own culture and traditions. I'm not sure what is more significant--the particular traditions of my family or of the general cultural traditions in the U.S. (I suspect the former). Logically, it has been much easier to adapt to things that were new to me such as the Juninha festivals (country bumpkin festivals in June/July) and Carnaval; I've found it much harder to adapt to the holidays for which I already had my cultural point of reference.
The interesting thing about being connected to the Brazilian Methodist Church is that it is very different than the Methodist Church in the U.S. Perhaps because Protestants are the distinct minority in Brazil, the Brazilian Methodist Church tries to avoid things that might be considered Catholic, such as candles, icons/images and liturgies. Also, because it was founded by conservative Southern missionaries from the U.S., the Methodist Church officially bans drinking and smoking (and sometimes dancing, depending on the pastor), although there are many jokes about Methodists drinking clandestinely.
I had an interesting discussion with my supervisor, Teca, before she left to travel to the U.S., and she explained that the Catholic church's style tended to reach the masses here because of the liturgies, repetitions, etc. in which everybody can participate--including those who can't read. The Protestant church tends to focus on reading the Bible, which automatically eliminates people that are partially literate or illiterate.
Despite meeting wonderful people, having interesting experiences and seeing much beauty, these cultural longings make me wonder if I could ever live here permanently. For the first real time, I'm having my doubts.
LIBERDADE
Constructing a stage
I never cease to be amazed at how much is pulled together within a short time.
Valquiria and the crown of thorns
Brazilian creativity never ceases...cover rolled-up newspaper with cloth, insert toothpicks, and presto!
Most of the cast and some of the choir
Standing-room only
SÃO GABRIEL
The disciples
The crucifixion scene
Leia (the music/Christian Education teacher) congratulating the kids
The choir's moment of glory on the stage afterwards
So the big thing I've been thinking about as I've now experienced the two biggest Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter) in Brazil is what makes up your culture and how much of it can be successfully replaced with something else.
During Easter, I was interested to see what the Brazilian traditions would be, but it's very difficult to differentiate what is a particular family's traditions, what is a particular religious denomination's traditions (more on that in a minute) and what is a country-wide tradition. One thing that is very cool is that Portuguese uses the same word for Passover and Easter, "Pascoa," differentiating Passover by calling it "Pascoa Judia." This leaves no ambiguity from whence the Easter holiday arises. The most wide-spread Easter tradition that I noticed across-the-board was the purchasing and giving of elaborately wrapped chocolate Easter eggs. I was happy to receive one on Thursday along with the rest of the staff of the two projects after our staff Easter lunch of salted codfish.
It seems that the larger holiday in Brazil is Good Friday (called "Holy Friday," it is a national holiday), where families tend to gather and eat salted codfish or some other type of fish. I went to the Good Friday service in the morning at the Central Methodist Church downtown. The mood was not as sombre as I was used to, and I was surprised that the bishop even focused on the resurrection in part of his sermon. (I'm more accustomed to a sad, introspective Good Friday service where you concentrate on the crucifixion.) Easter Sunday, I went to an early Sunday school (it really was a mini-worship service) followed by a breakfast. I recognized a couple of the traditional Easter songs from the U.S. and heard a few catchy new ones. People were not more dressed up than usual, unlike in the U.S., which is probably a good thing. In my travels around the city on Sunday, it didn't seem any different from a normal Sunday. I was blessed to spend both Good Friday and Easter with a family from my church that has jokingly adopted me as another "daughter."
Although it's been interesting to see what Christmas and Easter are like in Brazil, I've found myself missing my own culture and traditions. I'm not sure what is more significant--the particular traditions of my family or of the general cultural traditions in the U.S. (I suspect the former). Logically, it has been much easier to adapt to things that were new to me such as the Juninha festivals (country bumpkin festivals in June/July) and Carnaval; I've found it much harder to adapt to the holidays for which I already had my cultural point of reference.
The interesting thing about being connected to the Brazilian Methodist Church is that it is very different than the Methodist Church in the U.S. Perhaps because Protestants are the distinct minority in Brazil, the Brazilian Methodist Church tries to avoid things that might be considered Catholic, such as candles, icons/images and liturgies. Also, because it was founded by conservative Southern missionaries from the U.S., the Methodist Church officially bans drinking and smoking (and sometimes dancing, depending on the pastor), although there are many jokes about Methodists drinking clandestinely.
I had an interesting discussion with my supervisor, Teca, before she left to travel to the U.S., and she explained that the Catholic church's style tended to reach the masses here because of the liturgies, repetitions, etc. in which everybody can participate--including those who can't read. The Protestant church tends to focus on reading the Bible, which automatically eliminates people that are partially literate or illiterate.
Despite meeting wonderful people, having interesting experiences and seeing much beauty, these cultural longings make me wonder if I could ever live here permanently. For the first real time, I'm having my doubts.
posted by Christine Piggee at
4:34 PM
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