History hidden in a toy

In the South of the island of Santa Catarina, nestled between steep hills and the blue bay, twenty small children prepared a performance for their parents and grandparents. Heads and torsos appeared above colorful costumes made of papier-mâché and fabric: Bento was inside a red ox, a  friend inside a toucan and another inside a vulture. There was a cowboy whose body poked through a horse; a goat, and the emblematic creature of the Boi de Mamão: the Bernunça. Half dragon and half alligator, with an immense mouth to devour children, this Bernunça came to life with four girls inside it.

The Boi de Mamão — a ritual/game/play (brincadeira) common along the coast of the state of Santa Catarina — serves as a fascinating illustration of how play can function as memory and a power to “sustain the world.” 

With clips from the movies “Um boi para as crianças”, “Coragem de Brincar o Boi,” and “Como fazer uma zarabatana”, directed by Rita Oenning da Silva and Kurt Shaw.