XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Da Floresta até o Mar: Mythic-historical spaces of Brazilian popular imagination in performances of the Santo Daime bailado

• In Event: Kinesthetic Knowledges: Corporeal Conjurings of Brazil Otherwise

Abstract

The Santo Daime bailado is an important dance of the Brazilian ayahuasca religion, Santo Daime, which translates from Portuguese to English as Holy Give-me. First performed in Rio Branco, Acre in 1936 by migrant rubber tappers from the Northeast, this dance is performatively contextualized by imaginaries of globally significant geological spaces as the Queen of the Forest and the Queen of the Sea. These mythical feminine beings are called upon by practitioners through song and dance to occupy ritual spaces as energetic currents during bailado rituals, referred to as works. Global demand for rubber from the Amazon Forest greatly increased from about 1860 contributing to the Industrial Revolution and subsequent World Wars, connecting this important forested region with the Atlantic Ocean in new ways. These connections become more significant globally as political ideologies of florestania justify the perpetuation of development in Amazônia allowing deforestation to continue. In this paper, I highlight the emergence of these mythical space-beings of the Forest and the Sea in popular Brazilian culture and argue that knowledge of their historical significance may contribute to the healing power of Santo Daime through performances of ecological meaning and environmental belonging.

Author

• Ana Flecha, University of California, Santa Cruz