Folias de Reis is a centuries-old tradition in Brazilian popular culture

Three Kings' Day, celebrated this Saturday (6), marks a centuries-old tradition in Brazilian popular culture, which is the passage of festivities through the streets, bringing together groups of singers and instrumentalists who sing verses in honor of the three wise men: Baltazar, Belchior and Gaspar. In several cities across the country, they go from house to house wearing uniforms and masks and performing dances and songs with multiple string instruments, accordions and percussion. Some groups have characters – kings, clowns and bastions – who visit the homes of devotees.

Belchior, Gaspar and Baltazar, converted into saints by the Catholic Church, would have left the East guided by a star and carried three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh, symbolizing royalty, immortality and spirituality. For devotees, the date of the arrival of the wise men at their destination is when the Christmas festivities end, which begin four Sundays before December 25th, the day attributed to the birth of Jesus Christ.

Related news:

Thus, January 6th marks the moment when these three wise men went to visit the newborn Jesus Christ, in Bethlehem, an ancient city currently located in Palestine. On this day, nativity scenes, trees and other Christmas decorations are also taken down.

Of Portuguese origin, Folia de Reis or Reisado was brought to Brazil during the colonial period, manifesting itself under different titles: Terno de Reis, Tiração de Reis, Rancho de Reis, Guerreiros and Reisado. They consist of the presence of singers, instrument players, who go out on the streets, from house to house, singing praises to a devout saint and collecting donations to offer to those most in need or fulfilling promises that people make to their saints.

Currently, the tradition continues to be present in several states of the country, especially in the Southeast, Northeast and Central-West regions, such as Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão , Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí and Goiás.

In Minas Gerais, where the tradition is very present, the State Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (Iepha) has already registered over 1,600 groups in around 400 municipalities in all regions, considered, since 2017, cultural heritage of an intangible nature. . In addition to the Magi, the Divine Holy Spirit, Saint Sebastian, Saint Benedict and Our Lady of Conception are worshiped, in periods that are not necessarily Christmas.

According to the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan), there are three requests for recognition open at the Department of Intangible Heritage (DPI): Reisados ​​de Pernambuco; Folias de Reis Fluminenses; and Folias de Reis of the State of São Paulo.

In Pernambuco, the mapping carried out by the Pernambuco Historical and Artistic Heritage Foundation (Fundarpe) covered the municipalities of Recife, Garanhuns, town of Maniçoba (Capoeiras), Paranatama, Águas Belas, Arcoverde, Sertânia, Pedra, Petrolina, Santa Maria da Boa Vista, Lagoa Grande and Tacaratu, overlooking the countryside of Pernambuco and the metropolitan region of Recife.

In Rio de Janeiro, Iphan, in partnership with the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj), identified Folias de Reis in the municipalities of Angra dos Reis, Cabo Frio, Cassimiro de Abreu, Duas Barras, Itaboraí, Mangaratiba, Paraty, Petrópolis, Quatis, Quissamã, Rio Claro, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Maria Madalena and São Pedro da Aldeia.

Search

To update information about the Folias de Reis, in November last year, the institute opened a public notice to select organizations to carry out research and documentation that will support the process of registering the Reisados ​​and Folias de Reis.

The Center for Popular Culture Studies, the selected organization, will promote field research and transdisciplinary studies on Reisados ​​and Folia de Reis, bringing together professionals from different areas of knowledge, such as anthropology, ethnomusicology, history, geography and arts.

The research must have the participation of the communities holding the demonstrations. Furthermore, the organization will systematize and consolidate information on bibliographic references, institutions, public and private collections.

According to Iphan, the work should bring a proposal for the recognition of these manifestations as a single cultural asset or whether it would be the case to indicate the recognition of two cultural assets: one that encompasses the Reisados ​​and their variations in the Northeast and another that encompasses the Folias de Reis from other locations, to be defined from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

The research must also present the production of written and audiovisual material, a cartographic base map with georeferenced coordinates (locating the communities that hold the Reisados ​​and the Folias de Reis and the main locations identified as reference places for this cultural manifestation), in addition to making a historical survey of the transformations and discontinuities that this cultural asset has undergone, especially over the last few decades.

“With this research, which is on the near horizon, it will be possible to obtain quantitative and qualitative surveys of active groups and their current and historical diversities”, informed Iphan.