And that's it. It's been a whole year since I've been in Uruguay and now I'm back in France, continuing the final edit of Michael Rogosin's documentary. I was really sad to say goodbye, five months isn't that long to be away but in the short, swift moving year that was 2011 I fell in love all over again with Uruguay, Montevideo, my house-mates Carolina and Deborah... what a time to leave. But leave I did, and I went out with a bang.
"Deposit your shit here"
"caro"
My last couple of months were full. chock full. I left Uruguay in the dead of summer amidst the months of celebration. January and February in Uruguay are the start of the Carnival season (the longest Carnival in Latin America) and are peppered with various holidays and events.
Desfile 18.
In early February the city holds one of the first events of Carnival, one of them is the parade down the main strip in Montevideo, 18 de Julio. Different singing groups called Murgas and drumming teams known as Candobe wind their way up the street offering the crowds a taste of the upcoming season. I was lucky enough to be invited to view the event, front row... from the balcony of my friend Fariba's place.
see more of the parade at my flickr page.
Lemanjá, the queen of the ocean
On February 2nd every year, thousands of people flock to the beaches of Uruguay to gather in prayer, celebration and preparation of offerings to Lemanjá the goddess or queen of the sea. Lemanjá also known as Yemaja is a diety from the Afro-American religion Umbanda that has roots in the Nigerian religion Yoruba. Umbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion which has influences of many different religions including Yoruba and Catholicism. The Celebration on February 2nd coincides with the Catholic "Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes" (our lady of the sea-faring).
My friend Miriam and I (Miriam is also a transplant to Uruguay, so we were tourists together!) headed down to Playa Ramirez around 9pm on that Thursday evening to see what was going on.
From the early morning hours of the day people begin the pilgrimage to the sea with their offerings. They dress all in white and carry their offerings of small boats filled with flowers, sweets and little trinkets for Lemanjá. The beaches are completely filled with people their offerings in hand, priests offering blessings for anyone who wants them, and passers by who just stop to watch.
"Led by Light"
Groups collectively prepare their boats and then wade out into the shallow, warm waters along the Uruguayan shore and push their boats out to sea. Miriam and I followed one of these groups and waded out in our summer dresses up to our waists. They even offered us a swig of their sweet cider, including us in their offering to Lemanjá while I clicked away on the camera.
A song written in homage to the Lemanjá celebration: "Flores en el mar" (Gracias Pedro! for sharing the link)
More pics here!
et france
So I'm here now. Angers, France. I've already gotten off to a promising start. Work is going well and the wheels are rolling on the edit of a short film I shot last year with my friend Céleste.
My stay in Europe is sure to be an interesting one... I made a video for you all to see what's going on.
"Hello Angers!"
also....
Finally, installment two of 24 horas Montevideanas: el tango.
