[…] Like a kaleidoscope, Toré reorders and elaborates multiple knowledge about nature, time, and the social imaginary, celebrating life, permanent creation, and affirming the future possibility of an imagined and beneficent community among all those who participate in it. […]. (João Pacheco de Oliveira, foreword of the book Toré: regime encantado do índio do Nordeste, 2005. p. 10).
One of the main traditions of the Indigenous people of the Brazilian Northeast, Toré—initially a ritual dance—has been incorporated into the Indigenous movement of the region as a form of ethnic and political expression.
As a cultural manifestation extensive to different groups and defined by them as tradition, union, and play, it is a complex ritual involving a circular dance, in line or in pairs, accompanied by singing, to the sound of maracás, bass drums, harmonicas, and whistles, of great importance to the Indigenous peoples. Each group has its own unique toré, with variations in rhythm and melodies, according to each people. The maracá—an Indigenous rattle usually made from a dried gourd, without the kernel, into which stones or seeds are placed—sets the tone, and the Indigenous usually dance outdoors in circles. The toré ritual is considered the greatest symbol of resistance and unity among the Indigenous of the Brazilian Northeast.
It is not possible to be sure about the origin of the word or the ritual, since there are no colonial sources with information on the subject. For some researchers toré would have come from the Tupi language, to’rë, literally translated as crooked, a wind instrument (similar to a flute) that would have this shape, made of bamboo, alligator skin or clay. To others, the word would mean a circular dance of Afro-Amerindian origin, in which the instrument is played.
The first references to toré were found at the end of the 19th century, in Pereira da Costa’s Vocabulário Pernambucano, as being a dance sung by the Indigenous mixed-race of Cimbres, Pernambuco, the current territory of the Xucuru people.
It is an emblematic expression of the identity, culture, and religiosity of the local Indigenous people, it is composed of music, dance, and the ingestion of a beverage—usually the jurema, made from the barks and roots of botanical species that are capable of causing alterations in consciousness and perception—in addition to a mediumistic trance in which the participants make contact with spiritual beings, ancestors or not.
It is widespread in a large area of the Brazilian Northeast: in Ceará, among the Tapeba, Jenipapo-Kanindé and Tremembé peoples; on the coast of Paraíba, among the Potiguara; in the backcountry of the São Francisco River, among the Fulni-ô, Tuxás, Tumbalalá, Xocó, Truká, Kariri-Xocó, Pankararé, Pankararu, Jenipankó, Kiriri, Kaimbé, Atikum, Xukuru, Kapinawá, Kambiwá, Pipipã, as well as, in the countryside of Minas Gerais, among the Xakriabá e Xucuru-Kariri.
It is also part of the autochthonous culture of the Geripancó, Kantaruré, Pataxó, Tupinambá, Wassu-Cocal among others.
The Serviço de Proteção ao Índio (Indigenous Protection Service), created in 1910, by Marshal Rondon, demanded, from the first half of the 20th century, the performance of the toré dance as a way to attest to the Indigenousness of the Indigenous people of the Northeast. Since then, the ritual has gained relevance and visibility, being incorporated into the Indigenous movement in the region, as a form of political expression and ethnic identity. It is taught to this day to groups that want an Indigenous recognition. The adoption of the toré ritual for the Kiriri people, for example, only happened in the 1970s, at a time when there was a great struggle for land ownership and demarcation of the reserve, making ethnic recognition of the group necessary.
It is also known that the toré has connotations of public or private ritual. In public performances, especially those outside the Indigenous area, utilitarianism predominates. In the private sphere it is surrounded by secrets, exclusive to the Indigenous around an alleged “Indigenous science.”
In addition to a factor of social cohesion and strengthening of Indigenous peoples, the toré is seen as a ritual rooted in the emotions and feelings of individuals, enabling changes in behavior and delimiting intra-ethnic boundaries.
Recife, August 30, 2011.
sources consulted
GRÜNEWALD, Rodrigo de Azeredo. As múltiplas incertezas do toré. In: ______. Toré: regime encantado do índio do Nordeste. Recife: Fundaj, Ed. Massangana, 2005. p. 13-38.
GRÜNEWALD, Rodrigo de Azeredo. Toré e Jurema: emblemas indígenas no Nordeste do Brasil. Ciência e Cultura, v. 6, n. 4, [200-?]. Disponível em: http://cienciaecultura.bvs.br/pdf/cic/v60n4/a18v60n4.pdf. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2011.
PALIOT, Estêvão Martins; SOUZA JÚNIOR, Fernando Barbosa de. Todos os pássaros do céu: o toré potiguara. In: GRÜNEWALD, Rodrigo de Azeredo (Org.). Toré: regime encantado do índio do Nordeste. Recife: Fundaj, Ed. Massangana, 2005. p. 187-319.
PEREIRA, Edmundo. Benditos, toantes e sambas de coco. In: GRÜNEWALD, Rodrigo de Azeredo (Org.). Toré: regime encantado do índio do Nordeste. Recife: Fundaj, Ed. Massangana, 2005. p. 299-328.
TORÉ. [imagem neste texto]. Disponível em: http://indiosdobrasilsomostodosirmaos.blogspot.com/. Acesso em: 21 set. 2011.
how to quote this text
GASPAR, Lúcia. Toré. In: PESQUISA Escolar. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 2011. Available at: https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/artigo/tore/. Accessed on: mês dia ano. (Ex.: ago. 6 2009.)