CITY OF GOIÁS: THE SMELL OF WATER, THE FRAGANCE, AND THE HALLELUJAHS (1880-1899)

Abstract

This study focuses on the festive cycle Carnival-Lent-Easter in the City of Goiás, during the late nineteenth century. At that moment that, the administrative functions were centralized in the Province of Goyaz (the actual State of Goiás) and were sustained by an agrarian society, as the rural resources became its economic basis after the end of the mining cycle. Despite the importance of these resources, which placed the country side as the economic core area, the city imposed itself as the administrative center, cultural and demographic center. Because of the exploitation of gold, an urban center of colonial houses, with the

vilaboense population set on the banks of the Rio Vermelho, had been created. This was the urban festival, moments of effervescence in which the landscape received sounds, smells, colors, movements, etc. Since the dynamics of the Goiás economy was agrarian, the “farm” and “city” were the dominant elements in the folias and processions, or “festivals of the Church”, especially in the case studied, the celebrations of Lent and Easter.

Key-words: Folk celebrations. Carnival. City of Goiás. Lent.