Bahia, Salvador and Nordeste have a very diverse culture, history and religion and architecture within Brazil and have the most typical popular cultural manifestations, as well as music.
Northeastern culture is quite diverse, as it was influenced by indigenous peoples, Africans and Europeans. Customs and traditions often vary from state to state.
Since the northeast was the first region effectively colonized by the Portuguese, still in the XNUMXth century, who found the native populations there and were accompanied by Africans brought as slaves, the northeastern culture is quite particular and typical, although extremely varied.
Its base is Luso-Brazilian, with great African influences, especially on the coast from Pernambuco to Bahia and Maranhão, and Amerindians, especially in the semi-arid backlands
The cultural wealth of the northeast region is visible beyond its folkloric and popular manifestations.
Northeastern literature has made a great contribution to the Brazilian literary scene, highlighting names such as João Cabral de Melo Neto, José de Alencar, Jorge Amado, Nelson Rodrigues, Rachel de Queiroz, Gregório de Matos, Clarice Lispector, Graciliano Ramos, Ferreira Gullar and Manuel Bandeira, among many others.
In northeastern literature, one can cite popular cordel literature dating back to the colonial period (cordel literature came with the Portuguese and has its origins in the European Middle Ages) and numerous artistic manifestations of a popular nature that are manifested orally, such as the sudden and embolada singers.
Afoxé Filhos de Gandhy, in Salvador, Bahia.
In classical music, Alberto Nepomuceno and Paurillo Barroso stood out as composers, as well as Liduíno Pitombeira from Ceará today, and Eleazar de Carvalho as conductor.
Northeastern rhythms, music and melodies have also inspired composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos (whose Bachiana Brasileira nº 5, for example, in its second part – Dança do Martelo – alludes to the Sertão do Cariri).
In the popular music of the northeast, rhythms such as coco, xaxado, hammer agalopado, samba de roda, baião, xote, forró, axé and frevo, among other rhythms, stand out.
The armorial movement of Recife, inspired by Ariano Suassuna, did an erudite work of valuing this popular Northeastern rhythmic heritage (one of its best-known exponents is the singer Antônio Nóbrega).
In the northeastern dance, maracatu, practiced in several parts of the Northeast, the frevo (characteristic of Pernambuco) the bumba-meu-boi, the xaxado, several variants of forró, the tambourine (characteristic of Maranhão) stand out. ), etc.
Folk music is almost always accompanied by dancing.
Handicrafts in the Northeast are also an important part of the cultural production of the Northeast, including the livelihoods of thousands of people throughout the region.
Due to the regional variety of handicraft traditions, it is difficult to characterize them all, but the hammocks woven and sometimes embroidered in great detail stand out; products made from clay, wood (for example, from carnauba, a tree typical of the sertão) and leather, with very particular traits; in addition to lace, which gained prominence in Ceará handicrafts.
Another highlight are the bottles with images made by hand in colored sand, an item produced for sale to tourists. In Maranhão, handicrafts made from buriti fiber (palm tree) stand out, as well as handicrafts and products from babaçu (palm tree native to Maranhão).
Caboclinho spear from Maracatu Rural. The caboclo de lance is one of the symbols of Pernambuco culture.
Northeastern cuisine is varied, often reflecting the economic and productive conditions of the region's diverse geoeconomic landscapes.
Seafood and fish are widely used in coastal cuisine, while in the hinterland, recipes that use meat and derivatives of cattle, goats and sheep predominate. Even so, there are several regional differences, both in the variety of dishes and in the way they are prepared (for example, in Ceará, mucunzá – also called macunzá or mucunzá – salty predominates, while in Pernambuco, sweet predominates).
In Bahia, the main highlights are foods made with palm oil and shrimp, such as moquecas, vatapá, acarajé and bobós; however, foods accompanied by mush, such as mocotó and oxtail, and sweets such as cocada, are no less appreciated.
In Maranhão, there are cuxá, cuxá rice, bobó, stone fish and shrimp pie, in the Maranhão style.
Also in Maranhão, the soda Jesus or Guaraná Jesus stands out, which is part of Maranhão's heritage.
The bolo-de-rolo is an intangible heritage of Pernambuco. Some typical foods of the region are: baião-de-dois, carne-de-sol, coalho cheese, vatapá, acarajé, chapada and buchada, hominy, beans and coconut rice, beans verde and sururu, as well as various sweets made from papaya, pumpkin, orange, etc. Some regional fruits – not necessarily native to the region – are ciriguela, cajá, buriti, cajarana, umbu, macaúba, fruits from Maranhão, juçara, bacuri, cupuaçu, buriti, murici and pitomba, in addition to others that are also common. in other regions.
Northeastern Culture
Culture, History and Religion in Salvador, Bahia and Northeast
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