O natal também é dia de bater tambor: a festa de São Benedito e a construção da identidade quilombola da comunidade Bacabal, em Anajatuba- MA

Abstract

As a result of a long debate between the university and social movements, a reformulation of the criteria that define a community as quilombola is under way. These criteria are systematized in Decree No. 4887/03 and refers to elements such as the “assumption of black ancestry connected to resistance to the historical oppression, specific territorialities and self-attribution”. Based on these criteria, the present work describes Saint Benedict’s Tambor de Crioula Festival, a festivity that takes place annually on the 24th and 25th of December in the Bacabal community, and is regarded as the main factor of quilombola identity. The festival has an extensive program, which starts in August and ends with the Christmas’ Tambor de Crioula, portraying the agricultural production and the social relations historically experienced in Bacabal. In addition, this festival assembles the Tambor de Crioula movement of the municipality of Anajatuba, as it is among the few to have a fixed date, what allows to scrutinize the plurality and richness of the Tambor de Anajatuba