Canudos War – Bahia revived the village of Canudos

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Guerra dos Canudos
Canudos War

Bahia is to set up its first scenographic city in honour of Canudos.

State Tourism Secretary Domingos Leonelli said that the project to build the city will depict the village of Canudos, in the sertão, and also aims to revive the history of the blessed Antônio Conselheiro and the Canudos War.

The project cost the state R$5 million and includes educational, artistic and cultural activities, such as open-air plays. One of them will reproduce historical facts from the life of Antônio Conselheiro.

As well as being a priest, he worked in various professions and was one of Brazil’s most important social leaders. He was considered a rebellious mystic and spiritual leader of the Canudos arraial and commanded thousands of sertanejos, Indians and recently freed slaves.

The Canudos War

The Canudos War is considered to be one of the main conflicts that marked the period between the fall of the monarchy and the installation of the republican regime in Brazil.

However, before we learn more details about the formation of the village of Canudos and the start of the battles, we should take a look at some passages from the life of its main leader: Antônio Conselheiro.

Born in the town of Quixeramobim, in the interior of Ceará, Antônio Vicente Mendes Maciel grew up in a family with an average standard of living. During his childhood he had a diverse education that gave him contact with geography, maths and foreign languages.

Guerra dos Canudos

At the age of twenty-seven, after his father’s death, he took over the family business. He was unsuccessful and left the business. At the same time, he married a cousin and practised law in the cities of Campo Grande and Ipu.

After abandoning his wife, Antônio began wandering the northeastern hinterland. He then became involved with a sculptor called Joana Imaginária, with whom he ended up having a son.

In 1865, Conselheiro abandoned his wife and son and returned to his backland wanderings. During his wanderings, he began to build churches and cemeteries and his figure was marked by his grey beard, blue coat, leather sandals and his hand resting on a staff.

At this time, from the perspective of someone influenced by personal setbacks and the socio-economic problems of the sertão, Antônio Conselheiro began to preach a religious message in favour of a primitive Christianity.

He argued that men should rid themselves of the oppressions and injustices imposed on them, seeking to overcome problems in accordance with Christian religious values. With his words of faith and justice, Conselheiro attracted many sertanejos who identified with his message.

From the outset, ecclesiastical authorities and dominant sectors of the population saw Antônio Conselheiro’s social and religious renewal as a threat to the established order.

In 1876, the authorities arrested him on the grounds that he had killed his wife and mother, and sent him back to Ceará.

After his release, Conselheiro went to the interior of Bahia. As the number of his followers grew and he preached his ideals against the prevailing order, Conselheiro founded – in 1893 – a community called Belo Monte, on the banks of the Vaza-Barris River.

By consolidating a community that was not subject to the rule of those in power, Canudos, the name given to the community by its opponents, became a threat to the interests of the powerful.

On the one hand, the Church attacked the community, claiming that Conselheiro’s followers were attached to heresy and depravity. On the other, politicians and landlords, using the media of the time, claimed that Antônio Conselheiro was a monarchist and was leading a movement that aimed to overthrow the republican government installed in 1889.

Incriminated by influential and powerful sectors of society at the time, Canudos was targeted by Republican troops. Contrary to the government’s expectations, the community managed to resist four military assaults.

Only in the last expedition, which used machine guns and cannons, was the population fit for combat (men and boys) massacred. The community was reduced to a few hundred women, old people and children. Antonio Conselheiro, in poor health, died days before the last battle. When they found his body, they cut off his head and sent it to study the characteristics of the skull of a “fanatical madman”.

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