MINE2026-081 - ethnographic attestation
Itajui Folia das Almas berra-boi
Brazil - Itajui - Vale da Gurita, Delfinopolis, Minas Gerais - South America
Sacred / spirit
berra-boi Portuguese
berra-boi: Brazilian whirled-board aerophone; this locality's construction is a board, cord, and handle, not a friction box.
For more than forty years the Folia das Almas has walked Holy Week through the Vale da Gurita at Itajuí, near Delfinópolis, carrying prayers for the dead. Its berra-boi is a small board tied to a strong cord, with a handle at the far end, spun hard until it gives the deep hum of a violent wind — sounding alongside matracas, réu-réus and whistles.
uma pequena tabua amarrada em um barbante forte ou cordao ... fazendo girar com forca a tabua provocando um zumbido grave
a small board tied to a strong string or cord ... spun forcefully to produce a deep hum
Intercom, Folia das Almas de Delfinopolis (2007), p. 13 PDF / p. 12 scan.
- Object
- A small board tied to a strong cord at one end and a handle at the other; it is spun forcefully to make a deep wind-like hum.
- Function
- The Folia das Almas of Itajui uses berra-bois with matracas, reu-reus and whistles in its Holy Week procession and prayers for the dead.
- Map confidence
- high - Municipal tombamento dossier coordinate for Capela do Itajui, Fazenda do Ouro, Vale da Gurita, the documented locus of the Folia.
- Source location
Page references
Sagarana, Instrumentos musicais; Intercom 2007, p. 13 PDF / p. 12 scan
- Death and rebirth