Guia Cultural da Costa Verde

Paraty • Paraty-Mirim

QUILOMBO CAMPINHO DA INDEPENDÊNCIA

Preservation of Afro-culture through generations

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Following the abolition of slavery, many landowners in the region of Paraty abandoned their properties, which were divided among the people who had worked there. The community of Campinho originated from the former Fazenda Independência and from Antonica, Luiza and Marcelina, three ex-slaves whose cultural traditions have been preserved by their descendants. Currently in their fifth generation, they number 150 families and roughly 500 people who were given the land’s definitive title deed in 1999 together with recognition as a quilombo (former slave) community.

The quilombo is located 16 km from the Paraty town center, and is considered a model of community organization. The Associação de Moradores do Quilombo Campinho has been presided for six years by Waguinho who, jointly with other inhabitants, is in charge of sustainability and income creation projects, with stress on a collective economy and the practice of self-sustainable agriculture, purchasing fish from the neighboring caiçaras and raising manioc, beans, corn, bananas and sugarcane, among other crops.

The community takes care of the church of Saint Benedict, a municipal school and a healthcare unit. It also enjoys a handicraft facility and a restaurant, both open to the public. Visitors are treated to a guided cultural tour (previously scheduled) that shows the day-to-day routine and the family, agro-ecology (socially fair, economically feasible and ecologically sustainable agriculture), the manioc meal mill, handicrafts, and also includes storytelling by griots (storytellers, musicians and folk poets) such as Madalena, Dita and Dilça. Performances of jongo or capoeira angola rhythms can also be scheduled, as well as basket weaving and planting saplings.

To this end, groups must be formed with at least four and at most 80 persons.

During the same year as its opening, Restaurante do Quilombo was awarded a prize by Veja magazine’s Comer & Beber guide.

The facilities are simple and the menu lists typical caiçara dishes and home cooking, highlighting the delicious fish quilombo fashion with buttered pupunha palm hearts, plantain farofa and rice. The elaborate black bean stew served on Saturdays is another favorite.

The Casa de Artesanato is a highlight, with its exhibition and sale of an ample variety of items by the community’s group of artisans: Items of decoration braided in straw fiber, vines, reeds and raffia, clothing, utensils, light fixtures, costume jewelry, rag dolls, bamboo furniture, animals carved in wood and rugs, among other items fashioned with great care.

Quilombo do Campinho is also a scenario for large and traditional events and festivities.

Some of these are open to the public and others, such as Encontro da Cultura Negra that takes place during the full moon, is solely for quilombo inhabitants. A leisurely tour of Quilombo do Campinho will always be enriching, owing to the matter-of-fact and congenial dwellers and to the venue’s beauty, surrounded by hills and by plenty of greenery.

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