O Dia Fora de Tempo (The Day Outside of Time)

Every person has moments in their life that are memorable, sometimes for good reasons sometimes for bad ones. If one is lucky they have several positive memorable moments stored in their brains, waiting to be shared when the right question is asked or a person is willing to listen. In my thirty years of living I have become one of the lucky few with several happy, memorable moments. Now I have another one to add to the memory bank…

In the late 19th century and early 20th when diamond mining was a booming vocation, Barro Branco was a town. Now this village, about 7 kilometers from Lençois and 400 meters above it in altitude, has no more than 20 houses and is enveloped in thick forest. Remnants of stone houses and walls peak through the shrubbery, reminders of the loss that accompanied the collapse of the diamond industry in this area. Some acquaintances of mine who live in Barro Branco decided that it was the perfect place to celebrate the Dia Fora de Tempo (Day Outside of Time). According to the Mayan calendar, the year ended on Friday and but the new year started on Sunday. Thus last Saturday was not located in time, which made it a day worthy of a celebration. Though I don’t follow the Mayan calendar I like the woods and I like a forro party, so I went with a small group of friends to dance, camp and get away from the “city.”

The site of the festivities was an area similar to a town square (if there was a town to have a square). The residents built a small stone stage for the band, set up wooden benches, a fire pit, and a small area for a food and beverage vendor. No electricity in Barro Branco, the area was lit by candles and lanterns taking us back to festas of the past where the light from a fire and candles guided both musicians and dancers through an evening of blissful revelry. The night sky was clear, making the stars and chesire cat grin of a moon completely visible and magnificent.

As people arrived my friends and I snacked on an acarajé (typical snack food of Bahia), shared a cold beer and commented on the fact that a practically deserted village in the middle of the woods was a perfect place to celebrate a day removed from time. When the four-man forro band began playing its “forrosinho” (“little forro”; ie. more traditional forro) it occurred to me that this could quite possibly be the last forro festa under the stars I would be attending for a long time. And so I danced. I danced to fast tempos (one-one, one-one), medium tempos (one-two, one-two), and slow tempos (one-hip sway; two-hip sway). I tried to dance samba when the samba band arrived. I danced more forro when the forro band came back on stage. I danced for five hours straight. When a set of simple fireworks went off above the couples on the dance floor I realized the day outside of time was over and a new year had begun. I couldn’t imagine a better way to start a new year and I especially liked the chance that I was getting a second “new year” in 2009. Past 2:00 am, when the band members continued to play for an audience of weary but content listeners, my dance partner and I were the only ones still dancing, enjoying ourselves and entertaining the spectators.

The simplicity of a party with no electricity, at the end of a dirt road, in the hills of Brazil, where the music, company and beautiful, cool night are the only draws was striking. I found myself looking in from the outside and realized that at that moment I was experiencing the Brazil that people hear so often about, and that tour packages try so hard to construct, but that is becoming increasingly rare in a rapidly modernizing society. I am so thankful for my night of forro under the stars; for the friends I’ve made in Brazil that accompany me to parties and dance with me until 2:30am; for the health that lets me dance; and for the musicians who play, and play and play just because…

I tried twice to post photos to this entry and both times the site crashed....so hopefully my description is enough to satisfy my more visually orientated readers.