Don’t Miss The Forró Train

Pernambuco, in north-east Brazil is preparing for its most popular folklore festivals, which are traditionally celebrated in June.

The month of June signifies the preparation and celebration of some of Brazils most popular folklore festivals (especially Pernambuco) in honour of Roman Catholic saints and the sweetcorn harvest.

The12th of June, Dia dos Namorados (Valentine’s Day) is followed on the 13th by Saint Anthony’s Day.

Saint Anthony was Portuguese and is a very popular saint in Brazil. In actual fact he is the patron of all lovers. One intriguing custom is; if a girl wants to find a husband she makes a promise to Santo Antônio.

For instance, a young single woman may promise Saint Anthony that she will give bread to the poor, or even attend church each Sunday – in exchange for a husband…sounds a good deal to me,,,(yikes).

So, on Santo Antônio’s Day all girls are making “adivinhações” to guess or to predict who is going to be their husband.” At midnight the girls go to a banana tree with a ¨virgin¨ knife and lunge it into the banana trunk. The following morning the girl will make a bee-line for the tree, to hopefully discover the initials of her husband-to-be.

June also sees some traditional meals being prepared and eaten.

Typical food for the June Festivals are primarily made of sweetcorn, such as canjica, pamonha, bolo de milho and pé-de-moleque.

The party for the season is the popular “forró”. According to Câmara Cascudo , the most famous Brazilian expert in northeast folklore, forró came from” forrobodó” which means “divertimento pagodeiro" fun popular party.

This type of party has typical northeast dances such as (forró, baião, coco, rojão, quadrilha, xaxado, xote).

Another version of origin, states that forró has its origins in the English denomination of; “for all” a party which was very common, and created by engineers of the Great Western Railway in Pernambuco and other states, to entertain employees during the weekends.

The Pernambuco accordion composer, Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento creator of the rythym Baião (1912–1989) was the first person to record a disc called “Forró de Mané Vito” in 1949 in partnership with Zé Dantas.

The city of Caruaru in Pernambuco (considered the capital of forró) is famous for the best and biggest June parties, which attracts thousands of people from all over the world, during the Festivals of June. These are held at the Vila do Forró.

On 23rd June is the celebration of São João (St John The Baptist) the most popular saint in northeast Brazil. Fires are burnt in front of the houses, quadrilha is danced ( from French folklore) , all this is to give thanks for the good harvest, traditional meals are eaten and it is a great excuse to have fun too

On the 29th Saint Peter ends the June cycle of the most popular parties in the northeast of Brazil…….

Are you coming ? – don’t forget it is ¨for all¨ Forró………

Recipe for Canjica Pernambucana

Ingredients:
· 25 spikes of sweetcorn
· 1 cup of thick coconut milk
· 4 litres of thin coconut milk
· 3 cups of refined sugar
· 1 soup spoon of butter
· 1 soup spoon of salt
· 1 cup of sweet herbal tea
· 50 grames of butter cheese (optional – use a mincer if you have one)

Preparation and Method:

Grate the sweetcorn spikes and wash the mass with part of the light coconut milk through a thin sieve. Place mixture in a mincer machine or a liquidizer.

Add the rest of the thin coconut milk and boil it, always stirring it with a wooden spoon.
After one hour and a half of boiling and stirring, put all the other ingredients and the remainder of the thick coconut milk.

Boil it on a low heat, always stirring it with the wooden spoon.
Place it in a crosspiece plate or small plates and sprinkle with cinnamon…..

Hope you enjoy it!

PS: Thank you to, Mirian Machado-Thomas for writing about the June Festivals and providing the recipe for the delicious canjica...Obrigado Mirian...

If you have a question about the June Festivals or would like more Brazilian recipes , you may contact Mirian here