The dimensions surrounding the Amazon go beyond the forests and the socio-economic context. The diversity of the biome breaks down barriers and is reflected in the local culture, expressed by the region's more than 38 million inhabitants in various forms: music, dance, street demonstrations, ceramics and literature. Valuing this reality, for many, is a way of preserving the environment, the memory, the history of a people and all the struggles they carry in search of visibility.

In 2023, the Ministry of Culture (MinC) allocated around R$343 million for the development of the sector in seven states in the biome (Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Roraima, Rondônia, Pará and Tocantins). The investment comes from the Paulo Gustavo Law (LPG), Brazil's largest cultural fund, with R$3.862 billion to carry out actions and projects throughout the country. In the same year, the ministry launched the Mais Cultura Program, setting aside R$13.8 million to finance cultural projects in all the territories of the Amazon Region.

Pará had the largest amount of GLP investments last year in the entire biome. The MinC transferred R$165.4 million. The state is one of the most important in the Amazon in economic terms and has a number of cultural events. In the capital, Belém, the Círio de Nossa Senhora de Nazaré, a popular and religious tradition, has been present for over 200 years. In 2004 it was recognized as an intangible cultural heritage of Brazil by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan).

In 2014, IPHAN granted the same recognition to carimbó, a dance of indigenous origin, typical of Pará and the Amazon. In the west of the state, the Sairé Festival, held since the 17th century in Alter do Chão, about 40 kilometers from Santarém, brings together thousands of people in a celebration that details the influence of colonization in the region. In the northeast of Pará, in Bragança, the Marujada de São Benedito, a tradition dating back more than 220 years, was brought by slaves and celebrates the saint of Ethiopian origin. White blouses, twirled skirts and hats are part of the costumes.

Pavulagem

In Belém, during the June period, the Arraial do Pavulagem arrastões promote a space of diversity and inclusion for the population, bringing more than 140,000 people over four Sundays of parades. The initiative has a 37-year history and is consolidated as one of the biggest events in the Amazon, with the aim of preserving local culture through music, dance and trends. The emblematic figure of the ox, used during the festivities, is an influence from other parts of the Amazon biome and harks back to the time of slavery.

Júnior Soares, a musician and co-founder of Arraial, explains that this process of cultural rescue began with the realization that radio stations weren't playing regional rhythms, such as carimbó and toadas de boi. Meetings in front of the Waldemar Henrique theater, in Belém's Praça da República, were a way of overcoming the visibility problems faced by music produced in the region. "That's how we unintentionally inaugurated one of the biggest events in the Amazon. There were 30 people at the start," he says.

Tradition has gained local characteristics over time

The first name given to Arraial do Pavulagem was Boi Pavulação do Teu Coração. "Pavulagem" is a regional word that refers to what is beautiful. Ten years in the making, the group felt the need to delve even deeper into local rhythms and began to immersively research the presence of the composition masters. "We lived with them, we went to Cametá. We immersed ourselves, because our intention was to work on our own songs from then on.

When we introduced other rhythms, it lost its meaning to name it just Boi Pavulagem do Teu Coração."We needed to change the name to introduce other rhythms. From that moment on, we thought that the ox dances outside the street, it dances in an arraial, at a June festival, so arraial is the name of an interesting territory, so we're going to make it the territory of Boi Pavulagem. When we made the decision to expand the repertoire and change the name, the square started to get small. Those 30 people who started out became a thousand, five thousand. We started to leave from the stairs [of Estação das Docas] in the direction of the Waldemar Henrique theater," recalls Júnior Soares.

Participation

Os cortejos são gratuitos e contam com a participação popular para ganhar formas e movimentos. Esse foi outro salto na história de importância cultural adquirida pela “Pavulação” ao longo dos anos. “Pensamos em formar os brincantes, como [forma de] ampliar a participação das pessoas. Você ensina a pessoa a dançar o boi, o “carimbo”, para que, quando formos cantar, elas participem ativamente. As pessoas passaram a entender a proposta, se sentiram integradas, realizaram uma identidade cultural própria e a nossa intenção de criar um território de respeito à cultura popular”, diz o músico.

The parades are free and rely on popular participation to give them shape and movement. This was another leap in the history of cultural importance acquired by “Pavulação” over the years. "We thought about training the “brincantes” [players] as a [way of] broadening people's participation. You teach people how to dance the “boi”, the “carimbó”, so that when we sing, they actively participate. People began to understand the proposal, they felt integrated, they realized their own cultural identity and our intention to create a territory of respect for popular culture," says the musician.

Challenges

Promoting constant respect for the diversity of peoples, a hallmark of the Amazon, as well as the visibility that the biome's original music deserves, are among the challenges that Arraial is facing. “The challenges have always been to make the playing more inclusive, to have a territory where you can respect others. Everyone can be whatever they want, within their own territory. We also want to ensure that music, which is linked to tradition and ancestry, can take to the world stage. We can't depend on the government for this, it's a tool, but it can't be the only one.”

Initiative helps preserve the identity of the Amazon

Assuming that the current global context promotes a constant flow of information from all over the world, maintaining a local culture always in evidence is considered a way of preserving identity. "You see a culture solidifying, a way of expressing yourself, dressing, eating, living and being happy. I think the “folguedos” bring this, as if it were a boat from the past that has come to the present and we want to send it to the future, because what makes us like the kind of place we live in is the love we have for it," says Júnior Soares.

"So we always think that, by installing this kind of feeling, we will all be able to take better care of the Amazon. I think that's the intention, I want to say that it's not just forest here, it's that a lot of people live here, and a lot of people who have different cultural traits, who helped us develop the Amazon, each with their own little bit, who ended up forming a culture of their own. And that's what we're showing; that there are happy people who believe in our manifestations, who love what they do and who will certainly take better care of this piece of the planet that is the Amazon," says Júnior.

Belém is a plural space for local culture

The total invested in Belém in the cultural sector between 2023 and 2024 was R$26.3 million. The transfers come from federal, municipal and private initiative resources, led by the Cultural Foundation of the Municipality of Belém (Fumbel). The promotion of events such as the Arraial do Pavulagem and various other June expressions, for example, totaled more than R$2 million in the period. Inês Silveira, the foundation's president, points out that the biggest movements in the capital of Pará are in the Carnival, Arraial, Círio, Biennial of the Arts and Serenades.

"For us, it's an honor to be part of this scenario on a national level, as a city that throbs with culture and, this year specifically, with incentives from both the Paulo Gustavo Law and the Aldir Blanc Law [the federal government's cultural promotion policy]. Culture is the life of a people, so we say that empowering, especially popular culture, is empowering the life of those who live in Belém, those who are experiencing the city's cultural resistance. We have African, indigenous, European and Asian influences... And that, for us, is a source of great joy: empowering the various languages more and more," says Inês.

The devaluation of Amazonian culture began with colonization

The arrival of European colonizers in the Amazon is seen by researchers as the starting point for understanding the process of devaluation that a local culture began to suffer. Valcir Santos, a PhD professor at the Faculty of Economics of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) and cultural activist with the Pará Culture Forum, explains that this reality is historical and also reflects the political and economic imposition that the region's original peoples have experienced over time - which has created a cultural dependency, a concept created by Brazilian intellectual Celso Furtado.

"The cultural heritage of the native population was devalued during this period, due to an ideological and political process implemented by the Portuguese. We were subjected to Catholicism and what survived [in cultural terms] was through religious syncretism. This is very strong in Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Candomblé. Cultural dependence comes from the moment that the elites and social classes, as a result of European colonization, basically adopt consumption patterns that come from Europe, or from large capitalist centers, such as the United States," the professor stresses.

Valcir also says that even when an Amazonian rhythm is valued, it only happens if the Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo axis does it first. "Our wealth and culture are marginalized. Creativity is pruned, restricted to certain communities, like carimbó, which is extremely rich, but where is it most valued? In some regions where the economy and the riverside population are very strong. Urban cities only value carimbó when, for example, Dona Onete starts to be valued at a national level," he says.

Public policy

Despite the importance of Amazonian culture, there is still a lack of public policy aimed at keeping tradition alive and passing it on. One example is in the state of Ceará, in northeastern Brazil, which has started to value and document the work of master producers of cultural knowledge. This initiative, according to Valcir, would be interesting for the Amazonian context: "We need a permanent policy, which would be the security to keep the masters of culture alive and the works as well, rescuing, recording, in the form of documentaries, videos and record collections," he adds.