According to various researchers, the Maracatu Elefante (Elephant Maracatu) Group was founded in 1800 by the slave Manuel Santiago, after his discontent with the direction of Maracatu Brilhante (Shiny Maracatu Group), taking many members of the old group with him.
A maracatu group in the nação (nation) or baque virado style, Maracatu Elefante became popularly known as Maracatu de Dona Santa (Mrs Santa’s Maracatu Group), the group’s most famous queen, whose reign spanned from 1947 to 1962.
In their origins, maracatu groups were a representation of the African royal courts in Brazil, in an attempt to preserve the uses and customs. With the influence of Catholic traditions, its procession was more or less in the mould of the Portuguese monarchy, with the king, queen, princes, vassals, flag-bearer, ambassador, baianas (women from Bahia), spear holders and a slave bearing the royal canopy, a cover supported by poles in the to protect the person honoured in the procession.
In the ‘nação’ or ‘baque virado’ style maracatu, the themes always evoke kings, wars and lost nationhood. At the sound of the drums, only the baianas dance in the style of the orixás (gods) of candomblé (an Afro-Brazilian religion).
Until about 1850, maracatu groups had highly religious traits and, in Recife, performed at the door of the Igreja do Rosário in the Santo Antônio neighbourhood, after which they began to perform at the Carnival space.
The Maracatu Elefante group’s procession stands out as being the only one to parade with three ‘calungas’ (dolls) representing court figures: Dona Emília, Dona Leopoldina and Dom Luiz. The dolls are ritual and represent power and the hierarchy of candomblé as a socio-religious system.
Besides the three dolls, two allegoric carroças (carts) also draw attention: the Elephant and the Tiger.
After the death of Dona Santa, in October 1962, Maracatu Elefante stopped parading because of a supposed request from the deceased.
In 1964, anthropologist Waldemar Valente, who at the time was the director of what was then the Anthropological Museum of the Joaquim Nabuco Institute of Social Research, was able, through a donation from the estate of Dona Santa, to safeguard all the pieces of the traditional group in the institution.
Today this precious archive of Afro-Brazilian culture, made up of the famous ‘calungas’, allegories, swords, crowns, pieces of clothing, body ornaments, sceptres, canopy, banner, musical instruments and trophies won by Maracatu Elefante at the Recife Carnival, are preserved and displayed at the Museum of the Northeast Man of the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation.
Recife, 25 February 2011.
Update on september 27, 2016.
Translated by Peter Leamy, January 2012.
sources consulted
GUILLEN, Isabel Cristina Martins; LIMA, Marciano de França. Os maracatus-nação do Recife e a espetacularização da cultura popular (1960-1990). Disponível em . Acesso em: 25 fev. 2011.
LODY, Raul. O negro no museu brasileiro: construindo identidades. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil, 2005.
LODY, Raul; SILVA, Maria Regina Martins Batista e. Coleção Maracatu Elefante e de objetos afro-brasileiros. Rio de Janeiro: FUNARTE/Instituto Nacional do Folclore; Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 1987.
OLIVEIRA, Gilka Corrêa de; SILVA, Maria Regina Martins Batista e. Exposição Centenário de Dona Santa. Recife: IJNPS, 1977.
SILVA, Maria Regina Martins Batista e. Dona Santa: rainha do Elefante. Recife: Fundaj, Inpso, Centro de Estudos Folclóricos, 1976. (Folclore, 2).
how to quote this text
Source: OLIVEIRA, Albino. Maracatu Elefante (Elephant Maracatu) Group. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at: <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009