1. The description that follows does not attempt to transcribe one particular performance, but blends details of several performances attended on separate occasions. Comprising many isolated episodes, the main plot of the Bomba-meu-Boi usually tells the story of a little shepherdess who is looking for her lost ox, which in the final sequence is killed and restored to life. However, the Bomba-meu-Boi of the state of Maranhão, which is the most different of all, has its own distinct plot, involving an employee of a farmer and his pregnant wife, who is anxious to eat the tongue of an ox. To satisfy her, the man steals the most beautiful ox on the farm, which is wounded and later cured by a doctor. The Bomba-meu-Boi of Maranhão is also less dramatic and more choreographic and colourful than the others. It is performed during the celebrations of St Anthony, St John, and St Peter, between 13 and 29 June.

2. Each character usually makes his own collection. In the case of Mane Pequenino, because of the stilts he cannot collect by himself.

3. Neto, José Possi, ‘The Bumba-meu-Boi (Brazil)’, The Drama Review, XXI, No. 3 (1977), p. 9Google Scholar.

4. Ibid., p. 5.

5. ‘Given the central theme of the ox, it would appear that Bumba-meu-Boi should occur only in basically pastoral areas; however, it is performed in mining, fishing and agricultural areas as well.’ Ibid.

6. The auto-sacramental or ‘sacramental act’ was a Spanish religious dramatic genre performed in the open air to celebrate Corpus Christi Day. The autos were allegoric one-act plays, and were performed from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. See Cascudo, Luiz da Câmara, Dicionário do Foklore Brasileiro, second ed. (Rio de Janeiro: MEC/INL, 1962), p. 140Google Scholar.

7. Almeida, Renato, Historia da Musica Brasileira, second ed. (Rio de Janeiro: Briguiet, 1942)Google Scholar.

8. Barroso, Gustavo, Ao Som da Viola (Rio de Janeiro: Department de Imprensa Nacional, 1949), p. 29Google Scholar.

9. Ferreira, Asceno, Ensaios Folcloricos (Recife: DE/SEC-PE, 1986), p. 111Google Scholar.

10. Filho, Hermilo Borba, Espectáculos Populares do Nordests (São Paulo, 1966), p. 15Google Scholar.

11. Carnival has become one of the best examples of this. In some parts of the country, and especially in states such as Rio de Laneiro, Pernambuco, and Bahia, the official carnivalesque period – that is, the three days preceding Lent – has usually been extended. Carnivalesque celebrations are frequently held between New Year's Day and Lent, and even during Lent itself.

12. Ascenso Ferreira, op. cit., p. 112.

13. Burke, Peter, Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe, second ed. (Hants: Scolar Press, 1994), p. 178Google Scholar.

14. Ibid., p. 182.

15. Ibid., p. 183–7.

16. Ibid., p. 188–93.

17. A cheap, strong alcoholic drink made from sugar cane.

18. de Andrade, Mário, Dancas Dramaticas do Brasil, Vol. I (São Paulo: Martins, 1959), p. 51Google Scholar.

19. Ibid., p. 24.

20. Ibid., p. 25.

21. Bergson, Henri, Laughter, trans. Brereton, Cloudsley and Rothwell, Fred (London: Macmillan, 1911), p. 69Google Scholar.

22. Ibid., p. 5.

23. Benjamin, Roberto Câmara, ‘O Morto-Carregando-Vivo’, in O Obsceno: Journados Impertinentes (São Paulo: HUCITEC/ INTERCOM, 1983), p. 157Google Scholar.

24. Meyer, Marlyse, ‘Le Merveilleux dans une forme du théâtre populaire Brésilien: le Bomba-meu-boi’, Revue d' Histoire du Théâtre, XV (1966), p. 99Google Scholar.

25. Ibid., p. 100.

26. Ibid., p. 101.

27. The Taieiras is a religious dance whose function it is to accompany the queens of Our Lady of the Rosary, singing and dancing to honour the saints of the black people. The main characters are the Rainhas (queens), women who are crowned annually after the mass with the crown of the image of Our Lady of the Rosary. Beatriz G. Dantas explains the relationship between the Taieiras and the Royalty: ‘During the Brazilian slavery, the slaves used to choose, through the brotherhoods of Our Lady of the Rosary and with the permission of the civil and religious authorities, black queens and kings, who were known as Kings of the Congo.’ She adds, ‘For the blacks it was a way of perpetuating political institutions of the old Africa, the monarchy’, while for the whites it was ‘an easier way for the domination of the slaves’, for they used the king, whom the blacks had to obey, as an intermediary in the control of their behaviour. These sovereigns (elected annually or for life) were in charge of persuading the slaves to work and also of restraining any attempt at rebellion against the lords. See Dantas, Beatriz G., A Taieiera de Sergipe (Petrópolis: Vozes, 1972), p. 57–9Google Scholar.

28. According to Beatriz G. Dantas, the participation of the Cheganca in the celebration of the saints is justified by the fact that the Cheganca is the outcome of a promise made by the crew of a boat to the Virgin of the Rosary when they faced a storm and were saved by her miraculous intercession. See Dantas, Beatriz G., Cheganca (Rio de Janeiro: FUNARTE/MEC, 1976), p. 5–6Google Scholar.

29. Mário de Andrade, op. cit, p. 106–7.

30. Benjamin, Roberto Câmara, ‘Cristāos e Mouros’, in Encontro Cultural de Larajeiras: 20 Anos (Aracaju: SEC/FUNDESC, 1994), p. 311–13Google Scholar.

31. Beatriz G. Dantas, op. cit., p. 28.

32. Leach, E. R., Rethinking Anthropology, third ed. (London: Athlone Press, 1968), p. 132,135Google Scholar.

33. Hermilo Borba Filho, op. cit., p. 145–6.

34. Ibid. p. 161.

35. de Mello, Luiz Gonzaga and Pereira, Alba Regina Mendonça, O Pastoril Profano de Pernambuco (Recife: Massangana, 1990), p. 94Google Scholar.

36. Hermilo Borba Filho, op. cit., p. 162.

37. Gonzago de Mello and Mendonça Pereira, op. cit., p. 18.

38. Mário de Andrade, op. cit., p. 27.

39. Ginzburg, Carlo, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath, trans. Rosenthal, Raymond (London: Penguin, 1992), p. 89–90Google Scholar.

40. Ibid., p. 122.

41. Ibid., p. 94.

42. Gustavo Barroso, op. cit., p. 92–3. According to Barroso, such characters would be based on Lamia, the mythical Greek figure who kidnapped children, and her eastern versions. Ibid., p. 112–13.

43. Carlo Ginzburg, op. cit, p. 102.

44. Santos states that the style is non-naturalistic and ‘close to a formal synthesis. Eliminating the details of the natural images, the form of the puppets only suggests the figures but is able to express the idea or essence of each element.’ See Santos, Fernando Augusto Gonçalves, ‘Place au Mamulengo Brésilien’, in Marionettes en Territoire Brésilien (Charleville-Mezieres: Institut International de la Marionette, 1994), p. 14Google Scholar.

45. Gonçalves Santos, op. cit., p. 13–14.

46. Maracutas are a tradition in the state of Pernambuco. These processional carnival groups, comprising chiefly black people, derive from the ancient retinues that accompanied the African kings chosen by the slaves during the period of black slavery in Brazil.

47. ‘Stop, musician, stop!’

48. ‘Stop, stop! Didn't you hear Benedito say to stop playing?’

49. ‘I am the one who gives the order to play! Did you understand? I didn't give any order yet. Take it easy, for first I need to check if my sweet Quiteria is all spruced up’.

50. ‘Quiteria, my flower! My little peanut butter! Are you ready, are you?’

51. ‘I am my sunburnt moonbeam.…’

52. ‘Strike up a very well played baião, folks, for Quiteria today is keen to dance and to show off, in a flamboyant manner!’

53. Characters such as Benedito frequently refer to and demonstrate their sexual potency and the size of their sexual organ, as happens in many other forms of world puppetry.

54. Such fights are very popular, and characters who represent the oppressors are generally beaten, to the delight of the audience – another common feature of puppet theatre throughout the world.

55. Metín, And, Drama at the Crossroads (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1991), p. 148Google Scholar.

56. Schumann, Peter, ‘The Radicality of the Puppet Theatre’, in The Drama Review, XXXV, No. 4 (1991) p. 75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57. Gonçalves Santos, op. cit., p. 11–12.

58. Ibid.