Popular festivals and the "invention" of traditions

a reflection on the cavalcades and the fogaréu procession in the state of Goiás (1940-1980)

Abstract

The current reflection on the Intangible Heritage in Brazil has made the appreciation of studies of folkloric festivities possible, considered as collective expressions of multiple forms of language both symbolic of and accountable for the construction of tradition and collective identities. In this work, inquires will be made into some of these concepts, offering a contribution to the historical reflection on the relation between the festivity and the construction of tradition by means of the analysis of two cultural manifestations from the State of Goias: The “Cavalcades” that occur during the celebration of Divine Holy Spirit in the city of Pirenopolis, and the “Torch Procession”, part of Easter Week in the city of Goias. They facilitate the analysis of a process which identifies ideas, institutions and projects, whose objectives were the construction of cultural references that could associate Goias to a set of cultural, folkloric and atavistic practices, creating in this way a field of meanings capable of expressing the solidity of tradition.