The performance of identity. A comparative perspective on three contemporary (folk)

festivals in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil.

My presentation focuses three annual ‘folk’ festivals on which I have been conducting field- and

documentary research over the past three years: (Slide /zoom) the Festa do Divino (Holy Ghost

Festival) in Pirenópolis (state of Goiás, center west Brazil); (Slide/zoom) the Festa da Bugiada in

Sobrado (Northern Portugal); (Slide /zoom) and the Festa de Moros I Cristians in Beneixama

(Alicante province, southern-Spain).

The element linking the three festivals is the performance of a sequence of mock battles between

two rival ‘armies’: the invading Moors on one side, and the Christians that defend their territory

from the invaders on the other. These mock battles follow a predefined script divided in three

phases: the first being the attack on and initial victory of the Moors over the Christians; followed

by the counter attack and ultimate victory of the Christians over the Moors; and third, the

rendition and/or conversion of the latter to the Christian faith.

The festivals are composed of many more ritual and profane elements, — such as processions,

social critique, travesty acts, carnivalesque parades, etc. — but the mock battles are the element

most referred to in local discourses on cultural identity and heritage.

Analysing my data on each festival, it felt it was necessary to distinguish the various social

actors involved in the festivals, operating at different although sometimes overlapping levels,

with regard to their definition and expression of notions of identity, community and heritage.

Drawing on insights by Hill and Wilson (2003:2; 2004:2), I distinguish between ‘identity

politics’ and ‘politics of identity’.

‘Identity politics’ is a top-down process used by political, economic and other social entities,

with the purpose of shaping collective identities on the basis of ethnicity, race, and/or language,

and to place these identities into ‘relatively fixed and naturalized (essentialized) frames’ in order

to achieve political ends. Identity politics thus defined, expresses itself through the discourse and

action of formal institutions – such as, governments, parties, and corporate institutions. Its aim is

the articulation, construction, invention, folklorization and commoditization of culture and

identity within the public sphere of politics and civil society.

Politics of identity on the other hand, refer to a bottom-up process, taking place in the everyday

life of individuals and communities. Here, local people, acting within a framework of social and

political institutions and collectives, ‘choose or are forced to interact with each other on the basis

of shared or divergent notions of identity’. This process, expressed through the negotiation of

culture, power and identity aims at the creation of meaning, the affirmation of identity, or at

economic survival. It can but does not necessarily coincide with identity politics.

Additionally, I distinguish the level of strategies pertaining to individual personal identity,

expressed, conscious- or unconsciously in choices people make in daily life, and which may, or

not, coincide with the politics of identity at the organizational level and/or with the ‘identity

politics’ of the local administrative level.

For the sake of brevity and argument, my presentation focuses on the politics of identity, that is,

the role and politics of the organizing bodies in each festival - referring where relevant, to the

other levels.

Case 1 – The Festa da Bugiada (SLIDE / film fragment)

Sobrado is a small town of some 7.000 inhabitants, at 17 km from the city of Porto. The Festa da

Bugiada is a one-day event, celebrated on St. John’s day, the 24 of June, with a variety of acts,

varying from religious processions to sketches of social critique and parodies of agrarian rites.

The highlight of the day is the performance of a local legend about the robbery of the patron

saint’s statue, St. John, by a band of neighbouring Moors - the Mourisqueiros, and the rescue of

the same by the local ‘Bugios’.

The festival is co-organized by the local cultural association, Casa do Bugio, and the parish

council. According to António Pinto, president of the association since 2006, the Casa do Bugio

was created in 2004, following a period “of chaos and anarchy, with abuse of power and

influence by former members of the board”. Because of their prominence in the production and

promotion of the festival, the Pinto family by some is seen as having too much influence on the

festival.

(SLIDE) In their textiles shop turned tailors workplace, António Pinto and his wife Margarida

produce and sell a major part of the costumes worn by the Bugios, and some of the

Mourisqueiros, during the three months preceding the festival. Antonio’s brother, Manuel - a

journalist and university teacher - and board member of the association, runs a weblog with

historical accounts and new about the association. From its’ beginning, in 2004, the blog has

become an influential means of communication about the festival. António’s daughter, Fábia,

member of the festival committee for 2010, recently created a Facebook page for ‘friends of the

Bugiada’. To date, the page has gathered a following of some 1500 ‘friends’. Following in the

footsteps of their father and grandfather - a passionate Mourisqueiro between his 15 and 23 -

both António and Fábia are former Bugios.

Criticism from a part of the towns’ inhabitants concerns the way the association handles the

increasing interest in the festival from ‘outsider’ participants, visitors and policy makers.

The increasing number of participants from outside Sobrado poses logistical problems and has

raised issues of ‘authenticity’ among some sobradenses. Two central groups of Bugios and

Mourisqueiros, numbering between 24 to 40 male sobradenses, perform the principal acts taking

placing during the day.

The number of participants not pertaining to the central group is growing each year, amounting

in 2010 to an estimated 600. This group consists of men, women and children of all ages, partly

from Sobrado but many also from neighbouring villages and towns. They rent a costume for the

day; pay a fee to the Association, which entitles them to the communal breakfast served in the

association’s headquarters, and participation in the opening parade. To deal with the situation,

the Association elaborated a ‘code of conduct’, which every participant is supposed to follow.

Even so, the presence of ‘outsiders’ among the Bugios is seen by some sobradenses as

undermining the ‘authentic’ character of the festival.

To accommodate the increase in visitors, a part of the town is closed off during the festival, and

buses, paid for by the parish council, transport spectators from parking lots on the outskirts to the

center of the town. Local residents who live in the closed-off area can apply for a ‘free transit’

pass distributed by the Association. This measure has created quite a bit of animosity among

residents who don’t want to participate in the festival, or feel that they are entitled to more than

one transit-pass.

The allocation of the more prominent roles in the celebration has also caused friction in the

community. The Mourisqueiros - formerly bachelor sons of wealthy land owners, and nowadays

still formed by unmarried young men from the village - choose their leader, the Reimoeiro,

among their members. The role of ‘Velho’, head of the Bugios, however, in the past was chosen

by the Juiz da Festa, as head of the festival committee - usually a wealthy and influential

Sobradense. Nowadays, the ‘Velho’ is chosen by vote by a committee consisting of the men that

played the role in the past. The Association adopted this measure to put a stop to the

manipulation by some of the wealthier and influential members of the population who tried to

enforce the choice of a particular candidate for the role of Velho.

The Association Casa do Bugio is also responsible for the organization of a fair (SLIDE), which

takes place simultaneously on a plot of land belonging to the parish church. It is lent to the

Association free of charge during the festival. The rent obtained from the fairground attractions

pays for part of the festival-expenses. However, in 2010, the parish priest, siding with

disgruntled former board members, decided to charge rent for the use of the land, causing a

financial gap in the Association’s budget. The financial setback was compensated by a large

donation made by an expatriate Sobradense - emigrated to Brazil, who thus fulfilled a promise he

had made to S. João.

The Festa da Bugiada has remained relatively unknown outside of Sobrado and its immediate

surroundings, although participants dressed in Bugio and Mourisqueiro costume performed in

theatre festivals in Porto, and in programs on the national television channel, RTP from as early

as the 1960’s. The famous St. John celebrations in the nearby city of Porto kept potential visitors

from further afield away. However, things are changing, due to the diligent work of the new

administration of the Casa do Bugio over the past years, and in particular the input from the

Pinto family. The current Association’s official policy is to safeguard the ‘genuine character’ of

the celebration by restricting its’ performance to the ‘traditional’ context of the village. But the

pressure on the festival is increasing. In 2010, a delegation of the Association participated in an

international encounter of Festivals of Moors and Christians, held in Ontinyent (Spain). In the

same year, the Casa do Bugio joined the Iberian Network of Traditional Masks, an initiative

promoted by Progestur, an association dedicated to the ‘merchandising’ of ‘the most genuine

and authentic of Portuguese cultural identity’.

The city of Valongo, to which the parish of Sobrado pertains, also participates in the Iberian

network. In 2010, Valongo’s right-wing city council increased the annual subsidy for the festival

from €8.000 to €10.000. The left-wing opposition party, awakened to the cultural and political

value of the festival, coincidentally proposed the candidacy of the festival for the UNESCO

Immaterial Heritage list.

Case 2 The Festa do Divino and the Cavalhadas

Pirenópolis is a city of some 25.000 inhabitants in the southwestern state of Goiás, Brazil. The

Festa do Divino, or Holy Ghost festival, held at Pentecost, thanks its fame mainly to a three-day

spectacle in the form of a mediaeval tournament, known as the Cavalhadas, in which 24

horsemen, representing Moors and Christians, symbolically recreate the battle of Charlemagne

against the Turks.

Until the 1970s, the Cavalhadas took place only if there were enough candidates for the role of

‘knight’, and if the ‘Imperador’ of the festival was willing to pay for their performance.

Following the intervention of Goiastur, the state-run organization for tourism, the Cavalhadas

started to be performed on a more regular basis from the 1970s onwards, and are currently the

major attraction in the Festa do Divino. Since 2004, the ‘knights of the Cavalhadas’, have been

organized in the cultural association ‘Instituto Cultural Cavalhadas‘(Lima:…:120), created to

guarantee the continuation of the tradition, and to create a legal status so the group could apply

for funding from the Goiás’ state government.

Nowadays, considered an enhancement of one’s social standing, there is a long waiting list of

candidates for the position of knight in the Cavalhadas. Being a knight comes with a price,

though. Knights do not necessarily have to belong to the upper class of Pirenopolino society -

many of the horseman are in fact middle-class - or be financially well off, but being a man of

means certainly helps. The annual cost for the knight’s costume and the animal’s attire can easily

surpass 5000 reais (2000 euros), which is not covered by the mere 1500 real (650 euros) subsidy

each rider receives out of the state funding.

According to António Machado, who plays the part of Rei Mouro, (SLIDE), to become a knight

“you have to be ‘meio roceiro’, like horses, ride well …and…you have to ‘fit in’”, meaning you

have to be a Pirenopolino and have family ties to the celebration, and although not necessarily a

Catholic, you have to be ‘ a devotee of the Divine’. Together with Adil, who plays the role of Rei

Cristão, and their two ‘embaixadores’, António decides who enters the select group of knights.

Now sixty years old, António, known as Toninho da Babilônia, has been Rei Mouro for the past

30 years. Both he and his wife are from old traditional pirenopolino stock, owning several large

estates, amongst which Fazenda Babilônia, the oldest sugarcane plantation in Goiás, now turned

museum and run by Toninho’s wife, Selma. Toninho’s position contrasts rather starkly with that

of some younger members of the group, such as Júlio who joined four years ago as ‘cerra fila’,

the lowliest position among the riders. (SLIDE)

Julio and his family have a hard time paying for all the expenses entailed in knighthood:

arranging a horse that is considered up to standard, the upkeep of the animal which has to be

stabled and fed throughout the year, the knight’s costume and the accoutrements that adorn the

horse, both of which become more lavish every year. Lacking a horse of his own, Julio almost

gave it up this year, but at Easter - when the knights officially renew their oath to ride in the

Cavalhadas, he decided to continue anyway, on a horse lent to him by friends.

For people like Toninho, knighthood comes with the territory, so to speak, for financially less

well off people like Júlio it is markedly more difficult to keep up.

In the course of the last decades, the knights of the Cavalhadas have become the calling card of

the state and city’s identity politics. Under the guidance of Pompeu Cristóvam de Pina, (SLIDE)

member of one of the most prominent ‘old’ families in the city, they have helped putting

Pirenópolis on the map of tourist destinations: by posing for photographs sold as postcards

(SLIDE); by performing a ‘mock version’ of the Cavalhadas during the shooting of the popular

Brazilian telenovela Estrela-Guia (SLIDE); and by performing some of the Cavalhadas’

equestrian figures during a Brazilian Week in France.

Pompeu de Pina, former Municipal Secretary of Culture and Tourism, was also involved in the

construction of the Cavalhódromo, the arena where the Cavalhadas nowadays take

place. (SLIDE). This multifunctional building, emblematic of the state’s identity politics, was

built in 2004 with funding from state governor Marconi Perelli - whose wife is the daughter of a

traditional Pirenopolino family - and overseen by the Goiania Cultural Agency headed by

Pompeu de Pina. A considerable number of Pirenopolinos voted for the governor in successive

federal elections, which resulted in special benefits for the town in the form of state investments.

Many inhabitants, however, consider the Cavalhódromo an ‘attack on the genuine character of

their Cavalhadas’, and a dubious intervention ‘from above’, an expression of the governor’s

political ambition2 and Pompeu de Pina’s notorious interference.

Up until 2009, state funding paid for the daily ‘farofadas’, the meals served to the knights during

the two weeks of rehearsals preceding the Cavalhadas. In the past, these meals were a more

private affair, served in family homes, and attended mainly by the horsemen and their families.

Now the ‘farofadas’ have become public gatherings, open to members of the community and

visitors alike, with 200 to 300 people attending. This makes them a costly affair for the

participating restaurants, but it also brings them prestige, and they compete with one another for

the privilege of providing the meals. In 2008, the Festa do Divino was inventoried and documented by a team of researchers under the

guidance of the IPHAN, Brazil’s national heritage institution. IPHAN’s meticulous visual and

written documentation of all facets of the festival, resulted, in 2010, in the proclamation of the

festival as Immaterial Cultural Heritage of Brazil. According to an IPHAN spokesperson at the

time, “The festival (…) is an all encompassing social event (…) which is rooted in the daily life

of the town’s inhabitants, determining the patterns of local social life, and (…) a fundamental

element of the cultural identity of the town.”

Case 3 The Festa de Moros i Cristians

Beneixama is a village of some 1,800 inhabitants in the province of Alicante within the

Comunitat Valenciana, or, as many inhabitants prefer to say el País Valenciano, stressing their

onetime political independence from the rest of Spain. The Festa de Moros i Cristians, is held in

September in honour of the village’s patron saint La Divina Aurora.

Main protagonists in the festival are four cultural associations, called ‘comparsas’, which,

together with the town council represented by the ‘Consejal de la Fiesta’, and representatives of

the local church form the festival’s organizing committee.

The four comparsas together contribute to the celebration with a total number of around 700

participants. (Membership for the ‘comparsas’ varies between 80 for the smallest one, that of the

Labradores, and 254 for the largest, the Estudiantes. The Moors and Christians ‘comparsas’

have around 170 members each)

The comparsas of the Moors and Christians nowadays are mixed in terms of social class, but in

the past their members came mainly from families belonging to the rural and industrial

bourgeoisie. Some inhabitants of Beneixama consider these two comparsas, which date back to

the last decades of the 19th century, as the only historically authentic, with regard to the

purported ‘raison d’être’ of the festival: the re-enactment of the Christian ‘reconquista’ of

Valencia.

Consisting of tight-knit families with a link to agriculture, the so-called ‘socialist’ comparsa of

the Labradores was formed in 1971, its genesis and history a clear reference to Valencia’s

strained relationship with Madrid, especially during the Franco era, and to the social

stratification of Valenciano society.

The comparsa of the Estudiantes, formed in 1924, is currently the fastest growing association.

According to Mar Cordon, one of my informants, they have a more liberal take on the

celebration, and are ‘more fun’.

All four comparsas participate in the opening parade on the first day of the festival, and in the

processions, but the Moors and Christian comparsas are main protagonists in the three- day

performance depicting the ‘reconquista’, which is still proclaimed in the exact verses as were

written by their local author, Pastor Aycart, in the 19th century. According to Mar Cordon, some

young people consider these so called ‘Embaixadas’ out-dated - just as they feel that the burning

of the effigy called La Mahoma at the end of the performance, is politically incorrect. But the

people in charge of the festival are intransigent, referring to the necessity of preserving local

tradition. To accommodate the younger generation’s desire for change and modern

entertainment, the festival now incorporates night-time carnival parades, followed by open-air

disco.

The seriousness of the ‘Embaixadas’ is counterbalanced on the last day, when members of the

comparsa de los Estudiantes perform a parody of the ‘reconquista’, complete with the burning of

the effigy of La Mahoma - which in 2009 was fashioned to a likeness of Michael Jackson.

The comparsa of Labradores has its’ own day in Mai, in honor of Stº Isidro, patron of

agricultural workers, labourers, and livestock. This day was instituted under Franco, when farm

labourers and small landowners in Valencia were forced to relinquish their own patron saint

Abdon I Senent for the Castilian Saint Isidro, patron saint of Madrid.

Each comparsa has its own identifying symbols: a costume in the comparsa colours, flags, music,

and headquarters. (SLIDE). In return for their fees, the members of the comparsa have the right

to join in the parades in the ‘esquire’ of their choice, wearing the standard outfit. More elaborate

costumes, worn during the opening parade and processions, members have to pay separately.

This can be a costly affair, since the price of a custom made costume can be as much as six

thousand euros. The capità and his family, and the abanderado, the bearer of the flag, who

represent the comparsa during the festival, wear such elaborate costumes.

In Beneixama, the capitania is determined by rote, falling to each of the members in alphabetical

order. If the person chosen does not want, or is unable to take on the responsibility, the member

next in line can take over. Generally, the more well to do families hold the capitania, which

obliges them to serve as host for the members of the comparsa on some days of the festival, and

to attend all of the official acts in full dress. In spite of the cost, the capitania is coveted for the

social visibility and prestige it confers.

Since the 1950s, the number of festivals of Moors and Christians in the Comunitat Valenciana,

has increased from about thirty to almost two hundred celebrations (Alcaraz i Santonja 2006:37).

This has been accompanied by the exponential growth of an industry in materials and services

related to the festival; Seamstresses, designers, wig makers, makeup artists, choreographers,

musicians and composers, metal craftsmen, fire arms suppliers, etcetera, work throughout the

year to satisfy the orders of demanding clients (Alcaraz i Santonja 2006:10).

(SLIDE) Mar Cordon currently lives in Valencia, but spent a large part of her childhood in the

village, growing up in a family of ‘festers’. For this year’s celebration, she and her ‘esquadra’

friends rented a special outfit – worth € 350, - which they wore during the opening parade, the

‘Entradas’ and the processions.

Delegations of Beneixama comparsas occasionally attend other festivals of Moors and

Christians, and participate in congresses of Moors and Christians organized by the UNDEF (La

Unión Nacional De Entidades Festeros), the most important organization dedicated to the

promotion of the Festas de Moros I Cristianos at regional and national level. However, the

festival in Beneixama does not attract many visitors from outside, apart from relatives visiting

from Valencia, Alicante, B…. or Madrid. Moors and Christian celebrations in nearby towns and

cities, such as Banyeres, Biar, and Ontinyent with their real castles, and those of Alcoi and

Villena with their much more numerous comparsas, take place in an architectonically more

appealing scenario and offer visitors a more sumptuous spectacle.

Conclusion

An analysis, in terms of the individuals, associations and local authorities involved in the festival

addressed here— and the identity strategies / politics the same bring to bear on these

celebrations, raises questions about the meaning and validity of identity, community, and

heritage as theoretical concepts for Anthropology as a discipline, and as analytical tools for

ethnographic practice.

The notion of a homogenous ‘community’, with a single, united view of what constitutes its

identity and its heritage, of which the festival would be its tangible expression, is not tenable in

the cases I have addressed here. In each of the three festival succinctly presented above, the

collected data indicate the importance of local elites in the organization, maintenance and

promotion of the performance. The festivals provide these individuals and groups with ample

opportunity for the acquisition of personal prestige and the assertion and bettering of their social

and political status.

This begs the question up to what point it is correct to entitle these celebrations as ‘folk’

festivals, since this terminology seems to gloss over and obscure the power relations and games

of influence taking place ‘under the hood’ of the glossy festival exterior.

In order to understand the meaning of these festivals in their contemporary context, and to grasp

where the attraction lies for both individual participants and institutional promoters, it is

essential, in the analysis of these celebrations, to distinguish between the individual and the

institutional level, and between the organizational (associative), and the local / regional political

level, as I have tried to show in my presentation.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes. We might say the same about notions of

identity, community and heritage with regard to these festivals, which get their meaning from the

way they are defined by the individuals that participate in them, by the cultural associations and

other social groups that organize them, and by the local / regional political powers that finance

and promote them.