Parintins folkloric festival returns after two years and honors president of the Parintins Board of Directors. ELAS+
Helena Theodoro will receive honors from Boi Garantido and participate in the Jornada de Folkcomunicação na Amazônia.
After two years of festivities interrupted by the pandemic, the Parintins Festival returns to Bumbodrómo and heats up the Amazon region again. The last edition of the Boi festival was held in 2019 and traditionally attracts around 60,000 people to see the dispute between Caprichoso and Garantido. Recognized by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) as Cultural Heritage of Brazil, the bumbás are inherited from African and indigenous traditions, and represent the preservation of these cultures.
President of the Deliberative Council of ELAS+, Professor Helena Theodoro will be honored by Boi Garantido. PhD in Philosophy and specialist in Education, she has always used folkloric elements and popular manifestations in the classroom, and advocates that stories be incorporated into school curricula. "For me it is an honor and the fulfillment of a dream to watch the Boi. I've always wanted to go," says the 79-year-old philosopher who will be attending the festival for the first time.
The Boi festival arose from an African myth and gained regional contours according to the culture of the place where it was held. "The history of the Boi de Parintins arrives with a black man who comes from Maranhão. But we have the Boi all over Brazil. The stories told represent the communities of each territory. In Parintins, the context is the indigenous community, the quilombos that existed in the region, and emancipation", explains the teacher.
Helena Theodoro also emphasizes how the mythology around the Boi represents the resistance of the black community in Brazil. "All cultural manifestations in Brazil are resistance of African culture - Boi Bumbá, folia de Reis, congada... What popular manifestations do all the time is to show that the life of the black community does not begin when they arrive enslaved in Brazil. Africa has 10,000 years of history. There is a whole political vision, a whole religiosity, a whole philosophy".
Culture and Communication
The president of the Council of ELAS+ will also be part of the III Journey of Folk Communication in the Amazon, composing the table that discusses "Carnival and Boi Bumbá". The event is part of the 5th Parintins Communication Meeting and takes place the same week as the festival. The day brings together intellectuals to think about the relationship between communication and culture, especially in the Amazon region.
Helena Theodoro celebrates the opportunity to debate, in an event with international repercussions, the importance of black and indigenous cultures in the social construction of the country. "It is something very rich. It is the preservation of black cultures and the manifestations of indigenous peoples. It is the recovery of our speech,therecovery of our resistance", concludes the philosopher.
The Parintins Festival takes place between June 24 and 26.