The Mixed Carnival Troop Pitombeira dos Quatro Cantos (literally: Pitomba Tree of the Four Corners) is one of the most famous and traditional organisations in the Olinda Carnival, Pernambuco.
It was founded on 17 February 1947 by a group of lads from Amparo St and from Quatro Cantos, who went out onto the streets of the upper city with bare backs, wielding branches of a pitomba tree, a fruit tree native to Northeast Brazil whose bearing occurs in the first months of the year.
From 1947 until 1949, the Troop’s participants did not wear costumes. In 1950, the group paraded in costume for the first time, dressed as clowns without masks.
Today, Pitombeira parades (one hundred characters and twelve highlights) with rich and well-made costumes, competing annually with its great rival, Clube Carnavalesco Misto Elefantes (Elephants Mixed Carnival Club), another traditional Olinda organisation founded in 1952.
Its banner, created in 1953, is a diamond with a stretch of Prudente de Morais St, in Quatro Cantos, Olinda in the centre and two pitomba branches on the sides. The Troop’s colours are yellow and black
The skits presented by the Troop are varied and creative, such as: História da nossa história (History of our Story) (1968); La Belle Époque (The Beautiful Time) (1969); Holiday on Ice (1970); Horóscopo (Horoscope) (1974); Jogo de Pôquer (Poker Game) (1975); Aquarelas Nordestinas (Northeast Watercolours) (1976).
The orchestra is made up of wind and percussion instruments.
The Troop’s anthem, by Alex Caldas, is one of the most famous, widely-played and widely-sung songs of the Olinda Carnival:
Nós somos da Pitombeira (We are from Pitombeira)
Não brincamos muito mal (We don’t play very badly)
Se a turma não saísse (If the group didn’t go out)
Não havia carnaval (There wouldn’t be Carnival) } repeat
A turma da Pitombeira (The Pitombeira gang)
Tem seus dedos em cada mão (Has their fingers on each hand)
E o P que tem na teste (And that ‘P’ on their foreheads)
Faz parte da confusão (Makes up part of the confusion) } repeat
Pitombeira só tem dez letras (Pitombeira only has ten letters)
E uma significação (And a meaning)
Pitomba é fruta besta (Pitomba is a stupid fruit)
Se compra com qualquer tostão (Bought for any amount) } repeat
A turma da Pitombeira (The Pitombeira gang)
Na cachaça é a maior (Is the best in drinking cachaça)
E o doce é sem igual (And the sweet is without equal)
Como ponche é o ideal (The juice it’s the ideal)
Se a turma não saísse (If the group didn’t go out)
Não havia carnaval (There would be no Carnvial)
CHORUS
Bate bate com doce (“bate bate” with sweets)
Eu também quero, eu também quero (I want it too, I want it too) } repeat
Like so many other organisations that make up the Pernambuco Carnival, the Troça Pitombeira dos Quatro Cantos exists and works only to participate during the Carnival period.
Recife, 27 November 2006.
(Updated on 8 September 2009).
Translated by Peter Leamy, March 2011.
sources consulted
MENDONÇA, João Hélio. Pitombeira dos Quatros Cantos.Recife: Fundaj, Inpso, Centro de Estudos Folclóricos, 1979. (Folclore, n.86)
OLINDA, quero frevar: o maior carnaval do mundo. Pesquisa José Ataíde; revisão dos originais Giuseppe Baccaro e Arthur Carvalho. Olinda, PE, Programação oficial do carnaval 2002.
TROÇA Carnavalesca Mista pitombeira dos Quatro Cantos. Dispon[ivel em:
<http://www.olinda.pe.gov.br/portal/carnaval_agremiacoes.php>. Acesso em: 22 nov. 2006.
how to quote this text
Source: GASPAR, Lúcia. Pitombeira dos Quatro Cantos, Olinda, PE (Carnival Group). Pesquisa Escolar On-Line, Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, Recife. Available at: <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009.