Religious “Cannibalism” in Brazil
The idea of a kind of figurative cannibalism between cultures, as defined in Oswald de Andrade’s “Cannibalistic Manifesto,” can be seen in Luís Alberto Pereira’s 1999 film Hans Staden. Indeed, the film explicitly contains and almost centralizes around the idea of literal cannibalism, but the idea of figurative cannibalism manifests itself in a number of ways. One of the key ways it does so is through the interactions between the two different religions portrayed in the movie. The “cannibalism” practiced here is more-so on the part of the indigenous. The argument can also be made that Hans adopted certain aspects of the native religious practices while he was being held captive. However, throughout Brazil’s history it seems that other religions, and never Catholicism, were the ones to “cannibalize” and mix with opposing traditions while Catholicism merely spread certain aspects of itself into other religions; staying quite essentially the same in its own European roots.
Concepts, Theories and Assumptions
Let us first discuss the religious practices of the indigenous. In many ways, they were similar to those practiced by North American natives when colonists first arrived there. It is essentially a polytheistic belief, comprised of many gods and spirits with particular emphasis on earth, nature, ancestors, and the stars. Witch doctors play a role in summoning and contacting the spirits, whether it be for religious ceremony or for healing the sick. In Hans Staden, however, we see an interesting interplay between the natives’ religion and Hans’s. Rather than rebuke his beliefs and ignore his God, they instead readily accept the Catholic God as a real deity, especially when they believe their misfortunes are due to Hans’s God’s anger with them. They even go so far as to ask for Hans’s God’s mercy from Hans in various points of the film.
It is apparent from the start that Hans is Catholic. We see him praying to God and, before long, claiming that his God is angry with the natives for holding him captive and harming him. In one instance, Hans remarks that the moon is looking down angrily at the natives, a sign that he is using their belief in natural deities against them. In this case, he may not necessarily have believed it to be true, but the natives did. Another similar case presents itself when the sick family asks Hans to perform one of his religion’s spells which would heal them. Of course, Hans makes up a bit of a silly ritual, presumably on the spot, to appease them and ensure his safety. Again, while he may not necessarily be cannibalising the native beliefs, he is assimilating to their culture through similar practice. On the other hand, a sign of Hans’s “cannibalism” occurs when he kneels down before his cross to pray for the rain to stop. When it does, he stands up and bellows out a primal call similar to one put forth by a native earlier when a tribesman and his wife had “been healed.” In this instance, he has not necessarily taken on the religious beliefs of the indigenous, but his practice of Catholicism has taken on certain elements of the native practice.
Authors
The film Hans Staden is based off the true story of Hans Staden, a Hessian voyager. His memoir gained widespread popularity at the time of its release (1557). Its mere title suggests something of the author’s attitude towards the indigenous and his experience with them; translated as “The True Story of and Description of a Country Populated by a Wild, Naked, and Savage Man-munching People, Situated in the New World, America,” (Staden). Indeed, his outlook was very ethnocentric and the tales he spread of his journey only helped these views to pervade in Europe. The publication is filled with woodblock illustrations depicting the cannibalism of the natives, among other things. This ethnocentric outlook fueled may have fueled the religious conversion efforts by the Portuguese in Brazil.
Perspectives
Hans Stadem portrays an easy relationship between different religions. The natives make no attempt to quell Hans’s beliefs or his practice of them, while Hans respects their deities and shows no intent to convert them. However, as we discussed in class, we know that the Jesuits came to Brazil with the purpose of converting the natives. This is a typical move in colonization efforts throughout history, for once the native population’s fundamental beliefs are in line with the colonizer’s, there is no religious war or strife to deal with. We see in Pero Vaz’s letter to Portugal’s king that conversion, whatever its end-goal, was a major concern for the Portuguese:
“For all that, the best fruit that could be gathered hence would be, it seems to me, the salvation of these people. That should be the chief seed for Your Majesty to scatter here...How much more so will it be if there is a will to accomplish and perform in this land what Your Majesty so greatly desires, which is the spreading of our holy religion.”
So, it seems that there is a history of religious cannibalism on the part of native populations and none on the Catholic colonizers. Instead, the European beliefs tend to “beat out” the others rather than themselves in any way.
Still, we do see some resistance to total “cannibalism” in the time of the Afro-Brazilian slaves. While owners wanted their slaves to adopt Catholicism in its entirety, the slaves instead mixed it their own beliefs and traditions. This manifests itself in Boi Bumba which contains Catholic elements (St. John the Baptist), but which also contains pagan entities such as the witch doctor (Fryer). Boi Bumba and festivals like it remain today and will probably continue to be held, for as Julie pointed out, they are “very Brazilian.” While slavery-era practitioners did “cannibalize” certain elements of their masters’ beliefs, they still held onto part of their heritage. In the same way that Hans assimilated to indigenous religious customs but held onto his core beliefs, many natives and enslaved Africans took on Catholicism, but maintained fundamental elements of their traditional beliefs. In the words of Oswald de Andrade, “We were never catechized. We lived by a somnambulistic law. We made Christ to be born in Bahia. Or in Belém do Pará.” In essence, the “somnambulistic (meaning sleepwalking-state) law” is the “going through the motions” of those who adopted Catholic traditions but never in its entire essence.
Works Cited
De Andrade, Oswald, and Leslie Bary. Cannibalistic Manifesto. Vol. 19. N.p.: Latin
American Literary Review, p.g. 38-47. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20119601?origin=JSTOR-pdf>.
Fryer, Peter. Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil. [Middletown, Conn.]:
Wesleyan UP, 2000. Print.
Hans Staden. Dir. Luis A. Pereira. Perf. Carlos Evelyn, Ariana Messias, Darci Figueirido. Instituto
Português Da Arte Cinematográfica E Audiovisual (IPACA), 1999. Film.
Staden, Hans, and Neil LHarbsmeier, MichaelWesolowski, John Whitehead. Hans Staden's True
History [Electronic Resource] : An Account Of Cannibal Captivity In Brazil / Hans Staden ; Edited And With An Introduction By Neil L. Whitehead ; Newly Translated By Michael Harbsmeier. n.p.: Durham : Duke University Press, 2008, 2008. MU Library Catalog. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
Vaz, Pero. "The Letter of Pero Vaz De Caminha." Letter to King Manoel I. 1 May 1500.
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