“Alter do Chao has a history of being a matrilineal village,” explains Neca. “If you do a survey here, you will find that 70% of households are run by women.” Dona Lusia has never been married. “She never let herself be subdued by a man,” her daughter said. “She raised us all alone.”
Dona Lusia occupies an important place when it comes to communal ceremonies, cooking, rituals, crafts and storytelling. Neca says her mother is both a carnival and a martial artist. Rituals are an intense part of these people’s lives, and the struggle to keep their rituals from disappearing is a struggle for their own unique way of life.
For Dona Lusia, the effort to save the community’s traditions is also a way to reclaim her childhood life. When she was 10 years old, the celebration of Sairé, Borari’s annual festival, was banned by the Catholic Church. “It wasn’t until 1960 that people started getting together and celebrating Sairé,” says Neca. “It’s more about dances and rituals than prayer. Maybe 20 people. “Being one”comandos” – as her daughter says – Dona Lusia was instrumental in the effort to get Sairé back. “Our Indigenous Rituals, Our Amazons carimbo leap. All the dances that we have here. She devotes herself to prayer, but she is mainly concerned with dancing. She always supports it. She jumped. And she loves it.”
Neca’s conversation with Her mother is filled with stories of ancient times. What Dona Lusia likes to tell the most is the legend of Lago Verde do Muiraquitã, the community lake that is central to Borari’s mythical and daily life. As if in memory of her mother, Neca Borari took on the role of narrator, and when I spoke to her at the end of March 2020, a few days after Dona Lusia’s death, she told me. Listen to the legend of the blue lake:
The Borari of Alter do Chao see the moon as our intermediary with Tupã, the creator. We will not count nine months to give birth; we will count nine moons. If you need to cut some straw to cover your roof, you can’t do it under the moonlight. We only plant when the moon is bright. Fish are stronger under the full moon.
Many years ago, when our ancestors lived here, a young Indian woman went missing from the village. So the people got together, all the Borari people, to ask the moon to show them where the Indian girl was. And in the ritual, the moon answered them, Yes, she will show them. She will return the girl.
They went to the lake, and that afternoon a great storm arose. And they saw a tree rising from the middle of the lake, bearing colorful fruits that shone like lamps. Trees move, drift with the river. After executing a loop, it returns to the position where it started. So people went to see what would be found.
Those bright fruits have been transformed. They have become green frogs, together they form a large carpet that stretches across the lake. Hence the name Lago Verde dos Muiraquitãs. The Indian girl’s name was Naiá, and the tree was named Zineira, the tree of frogs.
