Festivity and Rituals in Folia de Reis São Francisco de Assis

Mesh and Tessituras of People, Instruments and Sounds in the City of Carmo do Cajuru / MG – Experience of Leisure as Identity Process

Abstract

The article describes the Folia de Reis São Francisco de Assis in the city of Carmo do Cajuru, MG, as a social practice full of histories and experiences. We focus on the festivity and ritual, integrating them into a ritual system organized by a heterogeneous community, whose participation expresses its materiality through songs, dances, prayers, rites and myths. We emphasize the ritual by highlighting the centrality and importance of musical instruments, guiding a dialogue between the fields of Leisure, Music and Anthropology. We associate leisure to ethical and aesthetic  processes, to art and body, to rituals and festivity through sharing daily production of our social experiences.