Brazil | June festivals celebrated across the country - video Dailymotion

teleSUR English

Millions of tourists have come to the back country in the Brazilian Northeast, for the annual June festivals. Our correspondent Brian Mier has more. teleSUR

Transcript

00:00Millions of tourists have come back to the country in the Brazilian Northeast for the

00:06annual June festivals. Our correspondent, Brian Mir, has more.

00:10Brazil may be famous for its carnival, but in large swaths of the country, particularly

00:19in the Northeast, the June festivals, centered around St. Anthony, St. John and St. Peter,

00:24are more popular. Originally brought to Brazil by Portuguese colonizers in the 1500s, over

00:29the centuries the festivals have been infused with African and indigenous folklore, leading

00:34to a social phenomenon which is uniquely Brazilian.

00:38Portuguese Catholic religious myths, the indigenous celebration of the corn harvest, and African

00:45drums and musical traditions have merged laying the foundation of this great celebration, the

00:50biggest and best St. John's festival in the world here in Caruaru, Pernambuco.

00:58Every year, in the Northeastern backcountry, Campina Grande and Caruaru vive for the title

01:03of Brazil's largest St. John's festival by hosting free shows with nationally popular musical acts.

01:10This year, the Caruaru Mayor's Office announced that 3 million tourists have already visited

01:15the city. But to many, the most important thing about St. John's is preserving local history

01:20culture and culture. Caruaru's young festivals are important, because they don't just focus

01:29on music, drinking and anything, but on folklore in general. So, in addition to those things,

01:36there's theatre, circus, poetry and dance. Many of the traditional St. John's dances like quadrilia,

01:45a stylized country wedding dance, serve a social function, strengthening local communities by

01:51bringing young people together in their neighborhoods for regular practice sessions for months before

01:56the June parties start off.

01:58We spend the whole year practicing. It's a kind of social work too, because we are working

02:05with poor children and adolescents. It's a way to motivate. This gets to stop doing wrong

02:10things on the street and focus popular culture, where they encounter a completely different

02:15world from where they come from. So it's very satisfying for me to do this with them.

02:21St. John's festival traditionally ends on St. Peter's Day on June 29th, but more and

02:28more local governments are spilling the parties into July.

02:31Brian Muir, Tele Sir, Caruaru.

Brazil | June festivals celebrated across the country

Category

Transcript

Recommended