Bumba-meu-boi

The story is the same everywhere it is told: a pregnant woman craves the tongue of the master's prize bull, her husband kills it, the animal is revived by healers, and everyone is forgiven - a comedy about slavery, hunger and power that ends in reconciliation rather than punishment. What makes the Maranhao version distinctive is that it is not one tradition but several, grouped into sotaques - accents - each with its own instruments and rhythm: matraca with wooden clappers, zabumba with drums, orquestra with brass and strings, baixada with heavy percussion, costa-de-mao. Groups rehearse from Easter, are baptised on the eve of Sao Joao, perform through June and are ritually killed off at the end of the season. UNESCO inscribed the complex in 2019.

What you actually see

• A bull killed and revived - the story acted out in comedy every night.
• Several distinct sotaques - matraca, zabumba, orquestra and others, each different.
• Embroidered costumes - the heavy beaded and sequinned dress of the players.
• A season with a calendar - baptism in June, performance, ritual death at the end.

When to go

June, with the peak around 24 June. Three days.

Honest expectations

Performances run very late and the arraiais are crowded and loud. Groups perform across the city rather than in one place, so seeing several means moving around at night. Rain is common. Little is explained in English.

Nearby

The Sao Luis historic centre is the setting; Alcantara is across the bay.