{"id":25528,"date":"2015-11-27T16:35:53","date_gmt":"2015-11-27T19:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=25528"},"modified":"2015-12-03T08:51:41","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T11:51:41","slug":"brazils-first-favela-morro-da-providencia-celebrates-118th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=25528","title":{"rendered":"Brazil’s First Favela, Morro da Provid\u00eancia, Celebrates 118th Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On Sunday, November 22, Brazil’s first favela<\/a>, the\u00a0community of\u00a0Morro da Provid\u00eancia<\/a>,\u00a0celebrated its\u00a0118th birthday. Though the exact day is unknown,\u00a0it is popularly understood\u00a0that Provid\u00eancia was born in November 1897.<\/h3>\n

Following\u00a0Brazil\u00a0Black Awareness<\/a>\u00a0month events that kept residents busy til night, Provid\u00eancia’s birthday celebrations began at 2pm. In the heart of the Port Region<\/a>, Provid\u00eancia is surrounded by some of the most important\u00a0Afro-Brazilian heritage landmarks<\/a>, such as the\u00a0Pedra do Sal Quilombo<\/a> and the Valongo slave market<\/a>, which hosted celebrations of the black cultural DNA that flows through the veins of the Brazilian popular identity at large.<\/p>\n

Provid\u00eancia’s\u00a0birthday\u00a0party was held next to the Gamboa Olympic Vila and amidst\u00a0construction works of the new light rail transport system<\/a>, both projects of the Marvelous Port<\/a>\u00a0port revitalization program. In the early afternoon technicians worked to set up the stage, musicians gathered under a large tent, and community traders prepared stalls\u00a0to sell drinks during the celebration.<\/p>\n

Giselle Diaz, new president of the Neighborhood Association<\/a>, hurriedly approached the musicians, and apologized for the delay. The feijoada-<\/em>-a traditional Brazilian pork and black bean stew–was nearly\u00a0ready, she said. Giselle recently took over an Association that has been criticized<\/a>\u00a0for not attending\u00a0to the needs of the community, especially when it was suffering\u00a0forced evictions<\/a>. She is seeking to change this, or as she says \u201cto make it function,\u201d starting with creating a workable office space. The birthday\u00a0party helped with raising funds for this.<\/p>\n

\"Provid\u00eancia<\/p>\n

At 3pm traditional firecrackers marked the start of the party and residents\u00a0came down the hill following the smell of feijoada<\/em>\u00a0made by Dona Jurema, winner of a culinary<\/a>\u00a0contest held in the region. Soon after\u00a0music started with the performance by local samba<\/a> group Velhos Malandros<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Music and people filled up the large tent and\u00a0vendors sold drinks from their stalls. The vendors were community members, many grateful for this opportunity to trade after the previous night’s funk<\/a> party had been once again cancelled. Funk parties were prohibited<\/a>\u00a0in the community during the first years since the installation of a Pacifying Police Unit (UPP)<\/a> in 2010<\/a>. Provid\u00eancia’s funk party producer reports that it still gets cancelled from time to time, though on this occasion the event was rained out.<\/p>\n

Events like the funk party and anniversary event stimulate\u00a0the local economy and provide trading opportunities for residents. Raul, a resident and vendor in his early 20s, said: \u201cWe are all street vendors<\/a>\u00a0too, we try to sell at Central do Brasil\u2026 But things are getting difficult, you know? Well, they\u2019ve always been.\u201d Raul\u00a0told of how street vendors–known as camel\u00f4s<\/em> in Brazil–suffer violence and repression<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0the Municipal Guard<\/a> who confiscate their goods and\u00a0no longer\u00a0allow them to sell by\u00a0the nearby Central do Brasil, the city’s central station where street vendors traditionally sell their wares. \u201cWe need to make a living too. How are we supposed to pay the rent, for our food?\u201d He added: \u201cThe party is good, we can sell our stuff here. But it is also a privilege being able to celebrate Provid\u00eancia’s birthday: it’s the oldest favela!<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Velhos<\/a><\/p>\n

Later\u00a0the music changed and faster Carnival samba\u00a0rhythms filled the air as the Vizinha Faladeira Samba School<\/a>–one of the oldest samba schools in Brazil–performed.<\/p>\n

As well as music, dancing and food, the event included a projection of photographs by local artist Maur\u00edcio Hora, including his latest project combining images of Provid\u00eancia with photos taken in the village of Canudos in northeast Brazil.\u00a0The first favela was established\u00a0after soldiers who served in\u00a0the Canudos War<\/a>\u00a0were\u00a0promised payment in the form of land in Rio, but upon arrival, found there was none awaiting them. They squatted in front of the Ministry of War until a colonel told them to squat on a nearby\u00a0hill, known today as Provid\u00eancia hill. Maur\u00edcio said that celebrating the Provid\u00eancia’s birthday is more than just a local, neighborhood party; it celebrates the start of a way of life, of the creation and spread of favelas<\/a>\u00a0and their significant\u00a0contributions to the city’s life and culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Mauricio<\/a><\/p>\n

Provid\u00eancia\u2019s rich history and cultural life has long attracted artists, including international artist JR brought by Maur\u00edcio, with whom he created the Women Are Heroes<\/a> art project there in 2008. Maur\u00edcio also collaborated with Portuguese street artist Vhils who sculpted evicted residents’ portraits<\/a> into the community walls to protest forced evictions in 2013.<\/p>\n

An artist and graffiti professional who recently moved to Provid\u00eancia after more than 25 years working in carnival samba warehouses, Marcelo is\u00a0helping Maur\u00edcio revitalize the community’s\u00a0cultural center, known as the Casa Amarela (Yellow House),\u00a0to offer workshops for Provid\u00eancia’s children. Marcelo spoke of his\u00a0optimism for\u00a0Provid\u00eancia\u2019s future and of Saturday’s anniversary celebration: \u201cWe need these kinds of events. They bring joy and bring community members together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Sunday, November 22, Brazil’s first favela, the\u00a0community of\u00a0Morro da Provid\u00eancia,\u00a0celebrated its\u00a0118th birthday. Though the exact day is unknown,\u00a0it is popularly understood\u00a0that Provid\u00eancia was born in November 1897. Following\u00a0Brazil\u00a0Black Awareness\u00a0month events […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":25532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1290,1333,1268,1271,329,1329],"tags":[396,1041,772,756,258,221,573,11,501,188,1870,1170,618,15,1036,572,148,146,144,571,957],"writer":[1786],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-civilsociety","8":"category-event-reports","9":"category-favelaculture","10":"category-favelaqualities","11":"category-solutions","12":"category-by-international-observers","13":"tag-art","14":"tag-black-awareness-month","15":"tag-cais-do-valongo","16":"tag-community-organizing","17":"tag-community-solution","18":"tag-favela-culture","19":"tag-feijoada","20":"tag-forced-evictions","21":"tag-funk","22":"tag-history","23":"tag-light-rail","24":"tag-municipal-guard","25":"tag-neighborhood-association","26":"tag-pacifying-police-unit","27":"tag-pedra-do-sal-quilombo","28":"tag-photography","29":"tag-port-region","30":"tag-porto-maravilha","31":"tag-morro-da-providencia","32":"tag-samba","33":"tag-street-vendors","34":"writer-marta-ill-raga"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25528"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=25528"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=25528"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=25528"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=25528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}