The Parintins Folklore Festival (Boi Bumbá)

In our last blog we wrote about the Sambadromo at Rio Carnival. Rio isn’t the only carnival in Brazil, far from it, as virtually every town or city in Brazil has some form of carnival in February or March each year. 

One of the biggest carnivals in Brazil though strays from this pattern and takes place in June, the Boi Bumbá.

The Boi Bumbá is also known as the Parintins Folklore Festival (Festival Folclórico de Parintins) and is held annually in the city of Parintins, in the heart of the Amazon. 

The Boi Bumbá, the carnival of the Amazon, is also known as Bumba-meu-boi or bumba-boi and tells the story of the death and resurrection of an ox. Roughly translated Boi Bumbá means to "Beat the Bull." Its name comes from the verb bumbar which means to beat up or beat against, and the expression is chanted by the crowd as an invitation for the ox to charge against them.

The festival is believed to have been brought to the town by migrants who came to the region to seek their fortune during the rubber extraction boom in the early 1900s. Although the festival is steeped in folklore it is also a competition where two teams, Bois Caprichoso and Garantido, compete in extended retellings of the story, each team attempting to out-do the other with flamboyant dances, singing and parade floats.

Whereas Rio has the Sambadromo, Parintins has the Bumbódromo, a round stage which holds roughly 35,000 people. Inside the Bumbódromo is where the competition takes place.

Each team has three hours to complete its show and is subject to penalty points if they run over time. Each nightly performance is largely based on local Amazonian folklore and indigenous culture, but also incorporates contemporary Brazilian rhythms and themes.

The winner is chosen by judges who evaluate each Boi according to several criteria such as the songs, the choreography and presentation of the Boi to name but three. Unlike in Rio at the Sambodromo the enthusiastic participation of the audience in the Bumbódromo is also judged and each Boi has people who are in charge of organizing the fans. Because of this the Bumbódromo is divided in two halves for the Garantido and Caprichoso fans, who dance and wave handkerchiefs and candles and sway when each new character comes into the scene.

This is serious business in Parintins amongst the local population and there is no compromise between the teams. Everybody in town has roots that go all the way up to one of the teams. You can never ever support the wrong Boi – for if you do so, the opposite Boi could win. Fans are very respectful to each Boi and whenever one side is performing, the other maintains complete silence.

The two teams (or Bois) each tell the same story in all three nights of the festival which may sounds repetitive but every night is different because dances, puppets, legends, rituals and alegorias all change and create a new nightly show.

On the morning of the fourth day, the Monday, the winner is announced, at which point fans and supporters of the winning Boi parade around town.

It is not precisely clear how the festival started. Some accounts state that Lindolfo Monteverde, who allegedly created Garantido, brought to life a bedtime story he used to hear from his grandfather. Likewise, Caprichoso was supposedly created by José Furtado Belém.

The play tells the story of Pai Francisco, who worked in a farm, and Mãe Catirina, his pregnant wife who longed to eat beef tongue. Pai Francisco kills an ox (a Boi) to satisfy his wife's craving but this particular ox is a favourite of the village. Villagers try but fail to revive the ox as were the animal to die Pai Francisco would be sent to prison. The ox miraculously springs to life after being healed by a shaman leading to forgiveness of Pai Francisco and a carnival atmosphere begins.   

This year the festival begins on 29^th June and finishes on 1^st July and promises 3 nights of partying and dancing!

Parintins is an hour flight from Manaus or a 20-30 hour boat ride along the Amazon River and the event takes place over three days starting on the last Friday in June.  

Bespoke Brazil can arrange a visit to Parintins as part of a holiday to Brazil so get in touch and let us create a holiday that is tailor-made for you.

www.bespokebrazil.com