A tradição no mundo contemporâneo : análise dos caboclinhos montesclarences – terno do congado das festas de agosto

Abstract

This study consists in an analysis of the August Parties that traditionally happen in Montes Claros, focusing the view on the Terno dos Caboclinho. The interpretation made in the study, which has the discussion about development as a leit-motiv, tries to articulate the comprehension of the connection, in the ceremony, of the questions theorized as tradition, folklore and popular culture. In the celebration of Congado (which happens in Montes Claros every year in August), one can apprehend the dynamism of tradition and the circularity that exists between symbolic material of popular culture and that of erudite culture. The study analyses the ritual of trança-do cipó performed by the Caboclinhos and the passage ritual of the Catopês, which consists in the dressing of uniforms after the rising of the first mast. The study also discusses the way the discourses about development, in the illuminist perspective which opposes tradition to modernity, contribute to establish a negative idea about the August Parties, and how those discourses are rebuilt in a different way in the present days. The study understands the Catopês, Marujos and Caboclinhos as important symbols for the construction of the identity of the people from Montes Claros.