The Brazilian Cavalhadas

In collaboration with the american website www.gourmetcookingandliving.com 

Every year, 50 days after Easter week, during a popular festival dedicated to the Divine Holy Spirit, the city of Pirenopolis stages a kind of open air theater, a very characteristic medieval battle: Cavalhadas. The city is found in central Brazil, in the state of Goias, one of the most productive in terms of agro-business. This city, with its great heritage of art and nature, a point of reference for regional tourism thanks to its colonial buildings and mountains rich in waterfalls, is consumed by one of the most distinctive medieval reenactments.

For three days, in a very festive atmosphere, among live music and colorful costumes, a good 15,000 people attend the reenactment of the battle between the Christians and Moors on their horses. The first day is the battle itself, the second is the surrendering of the Moors and the final and third day is the big tournament. Recognized as one of the most important in all of Brazil, this festival, noted in local folklore for centuries, has become almost a model for other cities. Twelve Christian knights, dressed in blue "battle" 12 Moors dressed in red, staging a kind of popular drama. Its roots, in reality, go well beyond folklore and are found in the deep religiosity of this area and its inhabitants.

Preparations for the event begin about two weeks before to lead off Whit Sunday, feast of the Divine, which is marked off with sacred music known as "Folia," which recalls the biblical passages of Christ's life. Among singing and dancing to the sound of guitars and drums, the knights rehearse, having their breakfast and lunch, eating "farofas," consisting of coffee, typical cookies, cassava flour and dried meat pounded in a mortar, the famous "arroz com pequi" (roasted meat with pequi) and "pequizada," a true regional specialty, at the house of the "Emperor of the Divine," a wealthy and generous citizen chosen each year to accommodate all of those who show up at his door. With gold and silver helmets on their heads, the knights arrange themselves on the "battlefield," dressed in lavish clothing, embellished with feathers, velvet, multicolored ribbons and sequins, and decorated with the symbols of the two faiths, such as a white dove from the Christians and a dragon for the Moors.

Ruling over everything is the "Masquerade," a man riding a horse, completely adorned, who disguises his voice and covers his head with an animal-shaped mask, the most common of which is a bull or jaguar, so that no one can recognize him. Ironic and dissolute, the Masquerades often criticize the powerful and the political system. The choreographed show excites and involves locals and visitors, beginning with the "Emperor." In fact, organizing the event, collecting the offerings and handing out the food is all up to him. The true symbol of this distribution of food is "Veronicas," from the Christian name of the women who tested themselves by making them. They are small desserts made of pure sugar, molded into icons of the Divine: the dove, Madonna or the Crown. Once packaged in bags, decorated with woven red ribbons, they are put into baskets and handed out during the Whit Sunday Procession, especially to children. This special representation of devotion and blessing of food was originally the foundation of the festival.

By the Adv Service