We went on our last cultural field trip in Recife to the Museu do Homem do Nordeste. We were able to experience, through artifacts, pictures, paintings and music, what the people of the Brazilian Northeast represent. Our guided pointed out some of the cultural characteristic of the people, as well as the influences of the 3 predominant races in Brazil: European, indigenous, and African.
We were able to think about the contrasts that we have seen here and that sometimes conflict with what is on the Brazilian post-cards. It is not all about the beaches and the beautiful ocean side lined with palm trees. It is also about the people living the best the can and interacting with each other. If on one hand we have read about the hard life of the nordestino, like the above picture shows, we have also experienced the optimism of families that are able to support themselves and raise a family on the farm. It was great to see some of the the instruments used in the past in this area, that symbolized the society of the time. Like this machine, used to imprint, sort of like a stamp, pictures on the small flyer-type little books that we call "literatura de cordel".
A big part of the museum displayed the African influence in Brazil, from the horrors of slavery to the upbeat sounds of their music, in a cool batucada style that only africans can do:)
It was fun to spot the symbols of my flag, for good or bad, there is a heavy influence of the Portuguese here, and I always enjoy finding the connections:)
No comments:
Post a Comment