Beating the Drum for the Holy Ghost: Pentecost (Festa do Divino), São Luís 2017

It is estimated that during the week or so of the celebration of Pentecost (Espirito Divino Santo/Holy Ghost), traditionally held 50 days after Easter, some 100 events are held in São Luís alone.

What is truly remarkable in the eyes of more secular cultures is the importance of these multi-day community events that bring together hundreds of people of all generations. There is of course a “modern” part of Brazil that observes only the mass on Pentecost Sunday, but these events in Maranhao bring together parts of the community for many days of celebration. The organizers, and the children and parents, will prepare for nearly the entire year.

The female drummers — caixeiras — are a traditional (and obligatory) feature of the celebrations. It is said that some drummers may appear in as many as thirty events across the city.

A mass for Pentecost is still held in the Catholic Church of course, but in the São Luís variation the priest normally leaves the pulpit and the caixeiras lead the children and celebrants from the church in a huge din of waving flags and rhythmic drumming.

Selected children are dressed as imperial royalty Portuguese colonial period and comprise the Tribunal or royal court. The “seating of the Tribunal” of children is done in the spiritual house where in both Christian and Afro-Brazilian entities are displayed and worshiped.

Spiritual House in Santa Inês (Saint Agnes)

In this celebration in Santa Inês the caixeiras themselves opened an early event, without children or a “Tribunal.” It is their personal celebration of the Holy Ghost a day or two before the actual day of Pentecost.

Caixeira. The mural behind seems to represent the arrival of the colonial Portuguese. Brazilians are a bit ambivalent about the colonial period — most have some European heritage but there was the vast slave trade that brought millions of their ancestors from Africa. The European colonizers also enslaved and exterminated many indigenous peoples, languages and cultures.

One of the traditional “Drummers for the Holy Ghost”

These spiritual houses tend to be “syncretistic,” in that they juxtapose or merge symbols and veneration of Christian and other entities. Here a cross is decorated for the Holy Ghost.

At the climax of this celebration night members gather at the altar and light candles for the Espirito Santo.

To support the celebration, a large number of people must be fed. By custom the celebrants and any drop-in guests and neighbors come to the table. This is the kitchen crew.

Casa de Mina Santa Maria, São Luís

“Seating the Tribunal”

After a Catholic Church mass the “tribunal” of royally dressed children, accompanied by the drummers (*caixeiras*) and other celebrants, march to the *Casa de Mina Santa Maria*.

The altar at the *Casa de Mina Santa Maria*, with doves and the crown symbolizing the Espirto Santo. In the center is the Virgin Mary (Santa Maria) and below another figure draped with necklaces of the various *orixás* worshiped in the house. It is common for Afro-Brazilian spiritual houses to worship entities from the Christian tradition (including many saints) as well as African *orixás* and other entities adopted in the New World. Each house has a different pantheon of entities they worship and invoke.

Most *caixeiras* are members of long-lasting women’s groups, but they are sometimes joined by male drummers.

The children in the Tribunal are fabulously dressed. This is one of the younger members of the royal court. The “empress” is a teenager who is elected newly every year and has a year to prepare (meaning, usually, that her family has a year to prepare her costumes).

For a few hours the young people are replicas of adult royalty, apparently invoking the period of Portuguese colonialism.

There are young *caixeiras*, but most are older women who have been drumming for the Holy Ghost for decades.

A young member of the “imperial” court, or Tribunal.

One of the few younger *caixeiras.* She is watching the older drummers to learn the various rhythms (there can be as many as nine, each with a role in the liturgy.

Veteran *caixeira* with young members of the court in the background.

Tenda de Fé em Deus, Pindaré

Procession of the Crown of Espirito Santo (Holy Ghost)

This procession preceded the entrance of the elaborately costumed children. These young men are bringing in the crown of the Holy Ghost at a spiritual house in Pindaré.

After they enter and the crown is present, there is an elaborate banquet or cakes soft drinks and sometimes chocolate drinks for the children. After the court is fed adults get the remaining cakes. For a proper banquet in the city of São Luís there are usually several tables of cakes. For this smaller event in Pindaré there were only a dozen or so cakes.

Young men entering the celebration with the symbols of the Holy Ghost.

There is a slightly romantic, mystical atmosphere that lasts until the lights are turned on and the children’s procession enters.

Catholic Mass, then Procession and Celebration at Casa de Nagô (São Luís)

After a formal Pentecost mass, the priest exits and the procession of the *caixeiras* begins. Here a young man of the “imperial court” leads the procession from the church with the flag of the Espirito Santo.

Just one of the several tables of cakes decorated with colors and symbols of the Pentecost.

The “empress” enthroned in an elaborate ritual at the Casa de Nâgo.

Being good, and regal, is trying. This is after the formal ceremony and before the cake, chocolate and soft drinks.

Casa das Minas, São Luís June 2017

“Bringing Down the Mast”

In groups that can afford it, the mastro/mast is raised early in the Pentecost week (levantamento do mastro) and torn down at the end (derrabamento do mastro). Both are signal events opening and closing important events in the Pentecost celebration.

The one below at the Casa de Minas is a massive pole that requires several men, intricate coordination, and various rope and tools.

For contrast, at the very end is a more modest neighborhood mastro decorated with treats for children.

The final ceremony is the “lowering of the mast” — a symbol of the Pentecost celebration. This is a huge one — perhaps thirty feet high and made from a tall tree. It is decorated at the top with a flag and symbols of the Espirito Santo.

Caixeiras march around the mast (“mastro”), nearing the climax of the celebration. Members of the celebration symbolically strike the mast with a hatchet to symbolize its being brought down and closing the Pentecost season.

The “mastro” is raised at the beginning of the several-day Pentecost celebration and lowered at the final ceremony. It is traditionally men’s work and requires a great deal of coordination, strength and skill. Some writers describe this as the “phallic” part of the ceremony.

Members of the court parade around the now-lowered *mastro* for a final closing of Pentecost.

The *caixeiras* accompany the parade around the mastro with constant drumming and singing.

In a final act, the dove and flag of the Holy Ghost are removed from the *mastro* and the formal Pentecost celebration is closed. There are still hours of drumming and eating tables full of cake and other food. The larger spiritual houses bring together hundreds of people for these celebrations. In early days food was taken to a leper colony — in a remaining element of that custom many disabled and very poor are given gifts outside the house on the previous day.

An Alternative Neighborhood Mastro

Not all mastros are formal and massive like the one from the Casa de Minas. This one is in a modest neighborhood and decorated with treats for children.