When I lived in the Boston area, winter used to be a season of brutal cold, darkness, and depression. When daylight savings time changed at the end of October, and the sun started to set around 4 p.m., I felt like a part of me was being locked away until March when the light came back. But even then, when the landscape was still mostly gray until May, and even late April often required a heavy winter coat and still threatened snow, it felt like the winter would never end. Autumn in New England is a delightful celebration of color, culture, and sensory experiences, but I was never able to truly enjoy it, as I always dreaded the coming winter. Living in Brazil, where the winters are mild, I think I am finally able to enjoy what the colder season has to offer.
Festa Junina, or June Festival, is a harvest celebration related to the feast of Saint John. It involves bonfires, parties, and lots of traditional food. Schools and Catholic churches often host parties, non-religious in nature, celebrating old traditions. There are banners of small colorful flags and tents selling fried pastel and other junk food. Some of the more traditional favorites for this time of year are things made of corn, including popcorn, corn cake, canjica (sweet white corn pudding) pamonha (corn cakes rolled up in corn husks), and curao (corn pudding with cinnamon). As it is the coldest time of year, there is caldinho, a thick, hearty kind of soup, often made of mandioca (yucca) or a corn derivative, with meat. It's served with shredded cheese, green onions, bread, and hot pepper sauce for those who like it. There are also drinks that bring comfort on a chilly, starlit night: hot wine flavored with apple, and quentão--hot cachaça (a sugar cane spirit) flavored with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. And, perhaps one of the most popular treats, but only in the Paraíba Valley, is bolinho caipira.
Bolinho caipira, which perhaps translates to "little country bumpkin cake," is seasoned ground beef nested in a dough of mandioca and corn flour, which is then deep fried. It's golden, has a crunchier texture than any other fried dough, and is great with a drop of hot pepper sauce. It's interesting that, while so tasty and beloved, bolinho caipira is only known in our region.
Sometimes my husband and I are recruited by the local Catholic church to help make or sell bolinho caipira at their Festa Junina events. This booth gets longer lines than any others. One year after the rush, when we oddly had nothing to do, Naldo called out to anyone passing by, "Quer bolinho, caipira?" Without the comma and the intonation he gave, the question would be, "Do you want a bolinho caipira?" But with the comma, it became, "Do you want a little cake, country bumpkin?" This caused folks of all ages to stop in their tracks with a look of confusion and then amusement.
Another Festa Junina tradition is a community bonfire, reminiscent of country folks gathering together under its light and warmth on chilly, starlit nights. At one of these events, way out in the countryside of nearby Jacareí, I introduced my Brazilian family to the North American tradition of toasting marshmallows. My husband and I gathered sticks and started showing people how to put marshmallows on them, but the initial reaction was, "What are you doing? Are you crazy?" However, after a few minutes, the marshmallows, golden on the outside and gooey on the inside, were sandwiched with chocolate between two cookies that had just the right sweetness to replace the graham crackers we use in the North. After tasting this combination, these Silvas wanted some more, and they quickly converted to the cult of s'mores. I taught them how to put the marshmallow on the stick so it wouldn't fall off, how to get different textures, and how to melt the chocolate on the cracker. So there was another reason for folks to gather around the fire. In addition to the corn on the cob roasting in aluminum foil and sweet potatoes buried in the dirt to cook, the s'mores made for a fun combination of cultures, even though received with lots of skepticism at first.
People really seem to enjoy these parties and bonfires, getting excited about bolinho caipira and other food as soon as May rolls around, finding excuses to have a Festa Junina celebration at work, at the gym, wherever, whenever. (I think May hosts Saint Anthony's day, and July Saint Peter's day, and these are the chillier months, so the celebration stretches well outside of June.) Children like to dress up in colorful, rather tacky costumes, bringing to mind the patched up Sunday best of simple country folk. They play fishing games for prizes and perform square dances. And people of all ages go wild with excitement, hoping to win prizes at bingo. In many ways it's a simple event, but one that is dear in the hearts of people, at least in São José dos Campos.
In all my years spending time with Brazilians in Boston, learning Portuguese and exchanging cultures, I had never even heard of Festa Junina before moving to São José. It's possible that it isn't celebrated as much in the regions where those old friends came from, but I find it surprising that this event seems all but forgotten throughout the rest of the year, even during discussions of holidays and traditions.
Most people, including my Brazilian students, think of Carnival and soccer when representing Brazil to the global community. Even if they don't get super excited about either of these traditions, folks seem to feel that these things have been chosen to represent their country, and default to them. With all the local affection for this celebration, I find it surprising that my students forget to mention it as a memorable event. Whenever they get stuck for ideas in a discussion of local holidays, I bring up Festa Junina, and the group immediately comes alive with excitement.
Like any holiday, I suppose it gets commercialized, and what were once quaint country traditions have become replaced and encased with plastic. Sometimes I wonder if the costumes and caipira traditions have become nothing more than a caricature of a forgotten culture. But then I see the cheer it brings in our region to both city and (true) country folks of all ages. That's where the true value lies.
I no longer have to pass the majority of winter months (post Thanksgiving and Christmas) in uneventful gloom and mounds of dirty snow with unfriendly New Englanders. Instead, I pass the cold (but not freezing) months with Josenses, comfort foods and community fun. The winter isn't as gloomy, gray, and empty as it was for me in Boston. Even in the winter there are colors and scents claiming their rightful place, reminding us that everything has a season, and this season has it's own special charm that is worth embracing.
What are some traditions you would like to see remembered more? What are some essentials of this time of year, or of cold weather in your part of the world? I am spending the rest of June and part of July in the United States, and will be taking a seasonal break from this blog until August. Meanwhile, keep in touch on Instagram (@danimakerelt), and bring your unique perspectives and offerings to the table.
Festa Junina, or June Festival, is a harvest celebration related to the feast of Saint John. It involves bonfires, parties, and lots of traditional food. Schools and Catholic churches often host parties, non-religious in nature, celebrating old traditions. There are banners of small colorful flags and tents selling fried pastel and other junk food. Some of the more traditional favorites for this time of year are things made of corn, including popcorn, corn cake, canjica (sweet white corn pudding) pamonha (corn cakes rolled up in corn husks), and curao (corn pudding with cinnamon). As it is the coldest time of year, there is caldinho, a thick, hearty kind of soup, often made of mandioca (yucca) or a corn derivative, with meat. It's served with shredded cheese, green onions, bread, and hot pepper sauce for those who like it. There are also drinks that bring comfort on a chilly, starlit night: hot wine flavored with apple, and quentão--hot cachaça (a sugar cane spirit) flavored with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. And, perhaps one of the most popular treats, but only in the Paraíba Valley, is bolinho caipira.
Bolinho caipira, which perhaps translates to "little country bumpkin cake," is seasoned ground beef nested in a dough of mandioca and corn flour, which is then deep fried. It's golden, has a crunchier texture than any other fried dough, and is great with a drop of hot pepper sauce. It's interesting that, while so tasty and beloved, bolinho caipira is only known in our region.
Sometimes my husband and I are recruited by the local Catholic church to help make or sell bolinho caipira at their Festa Junina events. This booth gets longer lines than any others. One year after the rush, when we oddly had nothing to do, Naldo called out to anyone passing by, "Quer bolinho, caipira?" Without the comma and the intonation he gave, the question would be, "Do you want a bolinho caipira?" But with the comma, it became, "Do you want a little cake, country bumpkin?" This caused folks of all ages to stop in their tracks with a look of confusion and then amusement.
Another Festa Junina tradition is a community bonfire, reminiscent of country folks gathering together under its light and warmth on chilly, starlit nights. At one of these events, way out in the countryside of nearby Jacareí, I introduced my Brazilian family to the North American tradition of toasting marshmallows. My husband and I gathered sticks and started showing people how to put marshmallows on them, but the initial reaction was, "What are you doing? Are you crazy?" However, after a few minutes, the marshmallows, golden on the outside and gooey on the inside, were sandwiched with chocolate between two cookies that had just the right sweetness to replace the graham crackers we use in the North. After tasting this combination, these Silvas wanted some more, and they quickly converted to the cult of s'mores. I taught them how to put the marshmallow on the stick so it wouldn't fall off, how to get different textures, and how to melt the chocolate on the cracker. So there was another reason for folks to gather around the fire. In addition to the corn on the cob roasting in aluminum foil and sweet potatoes buried in the dirt to cook, the s'mores made for a fun combination of cultures, even though received with lots of skepticism at first.
People really seem to enjoy these parties and bonfires, getting excited about bolinho caipira and other food as soon as May rolls around, finding excuses to have a Festa Junina celebration at work, at the gym, wherever, whenever. (I think May hosts Saint Anthony's day, and July Saint Peter's day, and these are the chillier months, so the celebration stretches well outside of June.) Children like to dress up in colorful, rather tacky costumes, bringing to mind the patched up Sunday best of simple country folk. They play fishing games for prizes and perform square dances. And people of all ages go wild with excitement, hoping to win prizes at bingo. In many ways it's a simple event, but one that is dear in the hearts of people, at least in São José dos Campos.
In all my years spending time with Brazilians in Boston, learning Portuguese and exchanging cultures, I had never even heard of Festa Junina before moving to São José. It's possible that it isn't celebrated as much in the regions where those old friends came from, but I find it surprising that this event seems all but forgotten throughout the rest of the year, even during discussions of holidays and traditions.
Most people, including my Brazilian students, think of Carnival and soccer when representing Brazil to the global community. Even if they don't get super excited about either of these traditions, folks seem to feel that these things have been chosen to represent their country, and default to them. With all the local affection for this celebration, I find it surprising that my students forget to mention it as a memorable event. Whenever they get stuck for ideas in a discussion of local holidays, I bring up Festa Junina, and the group immediately comes alive with excitement.
Like any holiday, I suppose it gets commercialized, and what were once quaint country traditions have become replaced and encased with plastic. Sometimes I wonder if the costumes and caipira traditions have become nothing more than a caricature of a forgotten culture. But then I see the cheer it brings in our region to both city and (true) country folks of all ages. That's where the true value lies.
I no longer have to pass the majority of winter months (post Thanksgiving and Christmas) in uneventful gloom and mounds of dirty snow with unfriendly New Englanders. Instead, I pass the cold (but not freezing) months with Josenses, comfort foods and community fun. The winter isn't as gloomy, gray, and empty as it was for me in Boston. Even in the winter there are colors and scents claiming their rightful place, reminding us that everything has a season, and this season has it's own special charm that is worth embracing.
What are some traditions you would like to see remembered more? What are some essentials of this time of year, or of cold weather in your part of the world? I am spending the rest of June and part of July in the United States, and will be taking a seasonal break from this blog until August. Meanwhile, keep in touch on Instagram (@danimakerelt), and bring your unique perspectives and offerings to the table.
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