Hi, Dear Hiver
The month of June is a month of festivities in Sao Luis, Maranhao. After two years of pandemia and partial lockdowns, the streets of Colonial Sao Luis dress up again with elaborate colorful bunting banner designs.
I had never seen so many banners on a street, especially in such artistic display. I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago. Since then, every day there is some activity, lots of food vendors and a whole party environment that is very contagious.
I am looking forward to attenting the June 24th Sao Joao's celebration and the Bumba Meu Boi (dance my ox?), which is a traditional folkloric celebration that goes back to colonial times. It is a protest dance that includes a puppet ox made of colorful materials (reminds me of Venezuela's burriquita) and some other characters. It is meant to represent the social class divide of colonial times and the protests of the lower classes making fun of the rich. Or so I have been told. We'll see for myself soon and tell you about it.
I hope to be able to document these dances and the whole celebration. It promises to be big, after these years of cancelations. Just the decoration of the streets is already fabulous, so i cannot imagine what it will be like with music and tons of people.
