Biboy and Barbara brought me along with them to Berkeley, where the Brazilian community celebrated Brazil's Independence Day and Lavagem, a cleansing ceremony.
What they didn't tell me was that the organisers actually closed down part of Hearst Ave for the street party. I was absolutely not in any mood to be in a huge dancing crowd because I was exhausted and I am not comfortable being in the midst of a crowd dancing. But because I didn't want to ruin their fun, I hung back and explored the sights instead... and learned a thing or two about this Brazilian cultural event.
The way I see it, Brazil was Portugal's version of Spain's Mexico. Brazil and Mexico grew in rank and power to the point that their local governments operated with (in my opinion) minimum supervision from the centre of the empires. Hence, both countries already had relatively mature governments when they sought for independence. Which made me think about the Philippine case... the country was practically a colony of Mexico. Berkeley's Brazil Day celebrations did little to emphasise this. Instead, its theme surrounded Lavagem.
Lavagem, as I understand it, is a religious cleansing festival. I saw a small altar set aside from the party area where there were two tiny figures... I'm not sure who they're supposed to represent though. They are probably priests. But since this is a cleansing ritual, I thought that the characters should be in white. The statuettes were surrounded with ribbons, candy, and flowers. There weren't any candles and the attendees were mostly ignoring these tiny statues so I was having doubts if they were really set up on an altar.
The attendees were dancing on the makeshift dance floor. And this was my first time to see what Brazilians mean by party! A lively beat was enough to get the crowd dancing. I didn't like getting my toes stepped on so while they were enjoying themselves, I stayed as far away from the congregation as possible. But when a marching band started performing on the street, I just had to take a look. They were playing something similar to the lively percussion-heavy music I used to hear in fiestas in the Philippines. There were street dancers and they were even joined by members of the audience! Once they passed by, I went out to explore the rest of the place.
This statue caught my attention because I thought it's a real person at first. But it wasn't moving. I wonder if people who celebrate Lavagem for real wear similar attire to this mannequin. What this get up reminded me of is the clothes worn by African women. I often see them wear colourful turbans and flowy dresses (that I often associate to regal people). So I thought that perhaps, Lavagem is an indicator of African influence in Brazilian culture. After all, Africans (particularly those from the western countries) reached the Americas through the slave trade.
And then, there were booths where vendors were selling African-style clothes and jewellery, American Indian handicrafts and bags, mechanical toys, straw hats, and food. Of course, food! Dinner was the highlight of my trip there. I chose to eat a Cameroonian meal combo that contained jollof rice, ewole (green vegetables), ndole (peanut stew), nsoke (black eyed peas), and nkule (ginger yam).
This is very different from the food I tried in the Ethiopian restaurant in Oakland... perhaps because I was eating chicken this time and it didn't have the gamey taste of what I had before. Also, the Cameroonian meal combo reminded me of Beninese food, perhaps because the Beninese and the Cameroonian dishes I tried so far had generous helpings of starches and were prepared with tomato sauce.
And so as the sun started to set, Biboy and Barbara decided that it was time to go back. They had a lot of fun at the party. I, on the other hand, enjoyed exploring the peripheral events and attractions.
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