Some Puxada de Rede Articles

These are two articles I found on the internet about Puxada de Rede. Puxada de Rede literally means
the pulling of the nets, and refers to the communal act of pulling in the huge nets used to catch Xareu
(a dark meat fish) along the coast of Northeast Brazil. This arduous communal activity is (in typical
African/Afro-Brazilian fashion) accompanied by work songs, which function both to motivate the
workers, and to coordinate their pulling for maximum effectiveness. These songs are often
accompanied by atabaques and/or other percussion. After the catch has been brought in, feasting on
the fish and singing and dancing to the drums are the central elements of the communitys
celebration.
The traditional music of the Puxada de Rede, as well as dance theatre about the lives of the people in
the fishing villages from whence Puxada de Rede comes, has come to be a staple fare in the AfroBrazilian folklore shows which abound. It is important to note how this came to be.
In the period of the 1950s - 60s there was a proliferation of Afro-Brazilian folklore shows. Some of
these shows were to show off Bahias regional culture in the south of the country, while other of these
shows were to show off Brazils cultural treasures to foreign tourists. Capoeira was often a
centerpiece of these shows. And more often than not it was Capoeira Regional which most lent itself
to these types of shows. During this period of time Mestre Bimba was encouraging his students
(many of whom were lighter skinned and middle class) to not only study capoeira, but to immerse
themselves in Afro-Bahian folklore as well. Many of Bimbas students also learned Maculel (which is
another staple of the folklore shows), and other diverse folklore such as Puxada de Rede. One of
Mestre Bimbas most illustrious students, Mestre Acordeon typifies this trend--he had a very
successful folklore show during this time period.
To this very day it is common that during the Batizado ceremonies in Capoeira Regional the
students perform the Maculel and Puxada de Rede that has been integrated into the curriculum of
many academies of Capoeira Regional. In neither the Capoeira Regional academies nor the
professional folkore shows, are the folkloric music and songs of Puxada de Rede legitimately
presented as folkore (i.e. the way people have traditionally performed that music). Rather, it is used
as the basis for some rather interpretive dance theatre loosely based on Afro-Brazilian themes,
myths, and the daily life of people in the fishing communities.
At first glance these two articles seem to describe such different themes that one wonders can both of
them be realistically describing the same Puxada de Rede? The answer is yes and no. The first article
describes the origins of the Puxada de Rede, as something that comes out of the working life of the
fishing communities. The second article describes some of the dance theatre which has been created
out of popular myths and legends, and is performed as Puxada de Rede to the accompaniment of the
traditional music.
A note on the translations:
Both of these articles were written in Portuguese. I decided to translate them so that more of us can
understand about this important piece of Afro-Brazilian folklore. The original writing in these articles
is not always very good. Therefore my (mostly literal) translations contain the same run-on sentences,
obscure grammar and other literary faux-pas which exist in the originals.
Anyway, I hope you all get something out of these articles.
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Puxada de Rede
(www.terravista.pt/enseada/7835/Menu.html)

O ritual "Puxada de Rede", executado artisticamente por diversos grupos de capoeira do Brasil,
retrata e sintetiza a pesca com rede, do peixe conhecido como xaru (peixe de carne escurecida
abundante nas costas do Nordeste Brasileiro). Trata-se de um episdio de trabalho rduo, de
canseira, mas, como todo trabalho dos negros baianos, temperado com muita poesia, religiosidade,
msica e festa. Todos os anos, a puxada de rede se repete com os mesmos cerimoniais, com os
mesmos rituais dos tempos de outrora. Uma tradio que no morre, mesmo porque dela depende a
subsistncia de centenas de famlias. Fora, poder e vitalidade de corpos vo se mostrando com toda
pujana no trabalho rduo da pescaria. No entanto, o mesmo embalado pelo canto, s vezes alegre,
s vezes triste, que evocam entidades protetoras. Ritual tambm embalado pelas batidas dos
atabaques, pelos corpos que, como num bailado, movimentam-se sincronicamente, realizando mais
uma tarefa gratificante que mistura sacrifcio, festa e prazer.
The ritual Puxada de Rede, executed artistically by diverse capoeira groups from Brazil, portrays and
summarizes fishing with the net of the fish known as Xaru (fish with dark meat in abundance on the coasts of
Northeast Brazil). It deals with an episode of arduous work, of fatigue, but, as all work of the Black Baianos, it is
tempered with much poetry, religiousity, music and festivity. Every year, the Puxada de Rede is repeated with
the same ceremony, with the same rituals of other times. A tradition that doesnt die, because on this tradition
the subsistance of hundreds of families depends. Strength, power and vitality of bodies are going to be
demonstrated with every pull in the arduous work of fishing. However, the song is fast, at times happy, at times
sad, evoking protective entities. The ritual is also speeded along by the beats of the the atabaques, by the bodies
that, dancing as one, move syncronized, accomplishing more than a chore, gratifying that mixture of sacrifice,
festival and pleasure.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Histria da Puxada de Rede
http://www.capoeirando.hpg.ig.com.br
O teatro folclrico que retrata a puxada de rede, conta a histria de um pescador que ao sair para o
mar em plena noite para fazer o sustento da famlia, despede-se de sua mulher que, em mau
pressentimento, preocupa-se com a partida do marido e o assusta dizendo dos perigos de sair noite,
mas o pescador sai e deixa-a a chorar, e os filhos assustados.
O pescador sai para o mar e leva consigo uma imagem de Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes, seus
companheiros de pesca e a bno de Deus.
Muito antes do horrio previsto para a volta dos pescadores, que seria s cinco horas da manh, a
mulher do pescador, que ficou na praia esperando a hora do arrasto, teve uma viso um tanto quanto
estranha. Ela v o barco voltando com todos bordo muito tristes e alguns at chorando. Quando os
pescadores desembarcam, ela d pela falta do marido e os pescadores dizem a ela que ele caiu no mar
por conta de um descuido e que devido escurido da noite, no foi possvel encontr-lo, ficando ele
perdido na imensido das guas.
Ao amanhecer, quando foram fazer o arrasto da rede que ficara no mar, os pescadores notaram que
por ter sido aquela uma noite de pouca pesca, a rede estava pesada demais. Ao chegar todo o arrasto

 praia, j com dia claro, todos viram no meio dos poucos peixes que vieram, o corpo do pescador
desaparecido. A tristeza foi instantnea e o desespero tomou conta de todos ali presentes.
Prossegue-se ento os rituais fnebres do pescador sendo levado sua morada eterna pelos amigos
que estavam com ele no mar, sendo seu corpo carregado, pois a situao financeira no comportaria a
compra de uma urna, o cortejo segue pela praia.

The folkloric theatre that the Puxada de Rede (literally pulling of the nets) portrays, tells the story of a
fisherman who goes out to sea in the dead of night to make a living for his family, dismissing his wife who has a
bad feeling about going out that night, and worries as her husband goes off, and the fright, telling of the dangers
of going out at night, but the fisherman goes and leaves her crying and the children frightened.
The fisherman goes to sea and takes with him an image of Our Lady of the Seafarers, his fishing companions and
the blessing of god.
Much before the hour prescribed for the fishermen to return, it was at five oclock in the morning, the
fishermans wife, who stayed on the beach, waiting for the time to drag (the nets) had a strange vision. She saw
the boat returning with all on board very sad and some even crying. When the fishermen disembarked they
imparted to her the absence of her husband, saying to her that he fell in the sea on account of carelessness, and
that due to the dark of the night, it was not possible to find him, remaining lost in the immensity of the waters.
At dawn, when they were to drag in the nets which had been in the sea, the fishermen notice that what might
have been a night of few fish, the nets were too heavy. When the dragging reached beach, the day was already
bright, all saw in the middle of the few fish that came, the body of the disappeared fisherman. The sadness was
instantaneous, and despair took hold of all those present.
Then proceeded the funeral rituals of the fisherman, carried to his eternal death by the friends who were with
him at sea, his body carried since the financial situation doesnt allow the purchase of an urn, the procession
continues towards the beach.