Capoeirista

– Report written by Maurício Xavier (www.unirio.br)

From repression to recognition

Capoeira brings together fighting, play and affirmation of Afro-Brazilian roots. Developed by enslaved people and their descendants, it brings together different African cultural traditions and carries the history of resistance to slavery.

The first accounts of the fight date back to the 18th century, but its origin still mobilizes researchers. Did it originate in colonial cities or in the countryside? Some defend each of these possibilities. In 19th-century Rio de Janeiro, its presence was already significant: groups of capoeira practitioners, known as "maltas," operated in different regions of the city. When they became involved in disputes between conservatives and liberals at the end of the Empire, these groups became targets of persecution. In 1890, the Penal Code began to treat capoeira as a crime.

The repression did not make capoeira disappear. Decades later, in Bahia, initiatives emerged to organize its teaching and gain its recognition as a sport and heritage of Brazilian culture. Criminalization, however, only officially ended in 1940, when the new Penal Code ceased to provide for punishments for the practice.

From crime to Brazilian cultural heritage, the journey was long. Like samba, carnival, and football, capoeira gained space amidst disputes with the elites and the government, until it established itself as a symbol of Afro-Brazilian culture. (portal.iphan.gov.br)

A watercolor by Augustus Earle, from 1822, helps to understand this past. In it, a soldier ambushes two men playing capoeira. The scene also draws attention for what it doesn't show: there are no musical instruments, and the people around don't clap. The record reminds us that the practice did not always have the form we know today. In the cities, the encounter between black people of different origins also transformed the tradition. (1.bp.blogspot.com)

Debates about the origins

And where does the word “capoeira” come from? In articles published in Rio Esportivo, between July and October 1926, Adolfo Morales de los Rios Filho proposed an explanation linked to work in the ports. According to this hypothesis, “cá” referred to materials from the forest, and “pú” to basket. From the combination would come “capú”, the name of the large baskets carried by enslaved people. The workers who transported them would be the “capoeiros”. Ricardo Martins Porto Lussac takes up this interpretation based on Carlos Eugênio Líbano Soares (Lussac, 2013, p. 67).

In this hypothesis, the fight would have emerged in the leisure time of these workers, who simulated fights among themselves. Gradually, the disputes gave rise to groups with their own hierarchies. The search for leadership would have helped to form the game of capoeira.

Relations with African practices

In Folclore do Brasil (1967), Câmara Cascudo relates capoeira to African practices described by Albano Neves e Sousa. One of them is N’Golo, performed in Angola during the Efundula, a rite of passage for girls into adulthood. This passage is discussed by Reginaldo Calado de Lima (2014, pp. 63–65).

In the dance, people form a large circle and mark the rhythm with clapping. In the center, two young people imitate animal movements and try to hit each other with their feet. It is the “Zebra Dance”, or “N’Golo”. Cascudo recognizes several similarities with capoeira and also mentions Bássula, practiced by fishermen in Luanda (apud Lima, 2014, p. 65).