Summary: The Importance Of Soccer In Brazil

In terms of culture, many have heard the term “melting pot” used to describe the United States. The reason the United States fits the description of such a term is simply because its colonization was fairly recent, and it was therefore an immigration destination for people from many nations. In other words, a melting pot is classified by diversity, and thus, countries other than the United States with young histories fit the description as well. Brazil perhaps fits this explanation of a melting pot the best because it is extremely diverse. It might not be obvious, but Brazilian culture is a conglomeration of many various histories, ethnicities, and traditions. It allows equality to be incorporated into the Brazilian lifestyle in a way

that many nations could only hope to achieve. Because of this, it is inspirational to other countries around the world. This culture, however, did not sprout from nothing; it grew from the seed of American exploration and the events thereafter. The Portuguese colonization of Brazil and the implementation of slavery in the colony in the sixteenth century along with the progression of these events over time has greatly contributed to the modern culture of Brazil. This is evident in Brazilian religion, race, and dance, existing in forms both pure from their roots and altered over the course of Brazilian history.
A prominent example of a mixed culture in Brazil that has resulted from slavery in the colony is that of the Quilombolas. Quilombolas are descendants of slaves who escaped over the last few centuries in northern Brazil who founded their own settlements, called Quilombos, and began a separate, secluded life of their own in villages in the Amazon River basin. Since Quilombos were detached from the influence of the rest of northern Brazil over multiple centuries, an interesting culture evolved among these people, which included the formation of religions such as Terecô. National Geographic states that Terecô is one of the hybrid religions that developed in the Quilombos by combining African beliefs and native practices with the Christian faith (Mann, Hecht 135). Additionally, in the complex early history of northern Brazil, many beliefs and practices intermixed to form new religions. The Portuguese first imported slaves to Brazil from Portuguese Africa, where the captured slaves held diverse African beliefs. These beliefs differed from those of European Christians and the indigenous South American people. Meanwhile, the Portuguese people that captured these slaves were almost exclusively Catholics, which had a direct effect on both the slaves and the indigenous people in Brazil. For instance, in the film Desmundo, an indigenous child is seen entering a room where a few Portuguese people are sharing a meal, and he is immediately called out for interrupting the meal. However, one man tells the others that the child has converted to Christianity, and he is therefore allowed to join them at the table. This child’s reasoning for his conversion to Christianity would have largely been grounded in the fact that the Europeans lived a better lifestyle than he, and that he would be allowed to join them in their activities if he considered himself a Christian. Nevertheless, he likely maintained many beliefs and practices of his native culture, regardless of having accepted numerous Christian beliefs.
Now, these events can be linked to reach the conclusion of the formation of a religion like Terecô. Of the three groups that were living in close proximity at that time—the Europeans, the Africans, and the indigenous people from the sixteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century—the natives and the Africans had the closest encounters, because they made up the two lower class groups. With respect to religion, the Africans maintained their beliefs from their culture but adopted many of the aspects of the native lifestyle due to the climate and their need to care for themselves; and, as a religious people, incorporated their everyday life, in this case a new everyday life, into their religion. Ultimately, many mixed religions such as Terecô were able to form in this manner.
Today, the Quilombos in the Amazon River basin play an important role in conservation in the north of Brazil. Leslye Ursini, an anthropologist at INCRA (Portuguese: National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform), a Brazilian land-management agency, has commented, “Pushing Quilombo residents off their land would only worsen the plight of the forest. … These people are the reason the forest still exists” (Mann, Hecht 137). The culture and lifestyle that the Quilombolas have maintained, although modern in the sense that it is a mixture of multiple cultures and lifestyles, is very supportive to conservation. In stark contrast, global modern culture finds many ways that a non-conservational practice like deforestation can be useful. Deforestation is incredibly minimal in Quilombos, because the Quilombolas keep their communities small and only clear land that is necessary for small farms or pastures and perhaps a soccer field for fun. Quilombos are also spread far apart from each other, and many claim the lands in between, so that they may never grow too close to another village. Thus, mining companies and others in the north that find these areas desirable are unable to claim them.
It is interesting to note that many Quilombos in northern Brazil today have a soccer field.

The cultural importance of soccer is essential to an understanding of the progression of cultural practices in Brazil and the formation of culture in Brazil today. In particular, soccer in Brazil has greatly broken down barriers of a racial stigma that still exists in many well-developed nations today. Franklin Foer discusses this importance in his essay “The Brazil Syndrome.” One of his first main notes is that soccer arrived in Brazil at just about the same time as emancipation in the country, in the late nineteenth century (Foer 41). The significance of this fact is not that soccer was something for every Brazilian to turn to at the time, but that there was a certain shame in the separation of white and black soccer players. The slaves were recently freed and became very intrigued by the sport, as did many of the elite white Brazilians. The elite Brazilians were very prejudiced but were quite undecided about allowing blacks onto their teams, especially considering the shame of slavery due to the recent emancipation. Regardless, African-Brazilians made it onto some soccer teams, whether they were allowed or they snuck on by hiding their skin color in some way. Eventually, the allowance of African-Brazilians onto soccer teams became a requirement for the teams to be successful, because the teams that were not mixed race were simply not good enough to compete with those that

were. Foer writes, “… ultimately, the thirst for victory dictated the racial composition of Brazilian soccer” (42), thus effectively erasing the prejudice and racial stigma in Brazil.
The reduction of this divide did not occur solely because of soccer, however. In fact, had soccer been introduced into a Brazilian upper class with too strong of a prejudice and too high of a racial stigma, the sport in terms of its role in Brazilian culture might have developed drastically differently within the country. During the time of slavery in both Brazil and North America, some of the racial stigma in Brazil was already being erased. The stigma, therefore, had already been weakened by the time soccer was introduced into Brazil. Foer discusses the Brazilian system of slavery:
The system of slavery … was radically different from its North American counterpart—and the biggest difference was sex. Where Americans scorned sexual relations between masters and their slaves as deeply shameful, Brazilians took another view. Miscegenation was a necessity, an accepted part of life. … Racial-mixing had birthed a new breed of man with incredible traits—and, in turn, it had birthed a new, more tolerant society. (42)
Because of this system, Brazilians had already been on the way to racial equality. The introduction of soccer into Brazilian culture only strengthened this idea that had already sprouted among the Brazilian people. Today, Brazil is the country with the second highest population of people with African descent, after only one African country. Many of these people are not entirely of African descent, however; they are a mixed race with aspects of diverse cultures.
Music and dance also play a significant role in contemporary Brazilian culture.

An example of this is the art form capoeira. Capoeira is an African-Brazilian dance that can also be classified as a martial art and is usually supplemented with music. Interestingly, capoeira cannot be traced back to Africa; its roots lie in the Quilombos of northern Brazil. In his article “Capoeira, Let the game begin,” Lucio Viti explains, “Fueled by a burning desire for freedom, slaves fashioned rudimentary strikes to avoid capture and abuse from physical blows, whips and firearms” (40). Accordingly, capoeira began as a means of defense by groups of refugees who saw a potential need to defend themselves. As the need for self-defense disintegrated, the people found ways of entertaining themselves with these defense skills that they already knew. For example, in the early 1900s in Bahia, a state in the northeast of Brazil, the practice of capoeira evolved into a fight game. The game incorporated dance and music while maintaining the practicality of the defense skills that exist as part of capoeira. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the practice began to break apart into different forms, some more violent than others. One resulting form was the modern Brazilian capoeira. The initiation and progression of the art form capoeira is quite unique. The practice stems wholly from slavery in Brazil, without any influence of a previous African, native, or European practice. Slavery

was able to cause the formation of capoeira not only because of its geographic location, but also because of its effect on the minds of those involved. Thus, capoeira is a prime example of a piece of culture that grew directly out of slavery in sixteenth century Brazil.
In addition to capoeira, other dances and types of music exist in Brazil today as consequences of slavery in the north. Samba in particular has exclusively African roots, and its spread throughout the country to become Brazil’s most iconic dance form is another result of Quilombos (Tremura 4). While escaped slaves in Quilombos were teaching themselves defense skills like those used in capoeira, they were also preserving their own heritage; samba, specifically, arose from the music and dance of these people. When many Quilombos were dispersed during the nineteenth century, samba began to spread throughout Brazil and evolved into the musical and dance form it is today.
In many ways, modern Brazilian culture is largely a result of the evolution of sixteenth century events in Brazil. Brazil’s culture is an inspiration to countries all around the world because of its unique racial composition and its successful inclusion and combination of so many different cultures and histories into one, unified country. No matter where they might live in Brazil, the people of the country hold their Brazilian identity very close to themselves. Their race, religion, and overall culture may be solely European, solely African, solely Native American, or any mix of the three, but no matter what it is now or where it comes from, it can be called one word for sure: Brazilian.