Cinema in defense of the forests and woods
Makota
-I'm going to open a box...
to request permission,
to see if he grants permission to enter the forest.
It didn't open...
Hold on, folks...
Let's see what's missing here...
Now it opened!
Where's the acaçá and aguidi?
Quick, my son... Bring it on a plate. Without a bag...
Where's the tobacco?
Let's give an offering to Catendê so we can enter the forest...
Asking him, the god of the leaves...
Asking with bandagira so we can enter the forest.
It's an offering to him. Where's the tobacco?
Come here, Luan.
Turn over there.
Here, just turn.
You're going to place...
Give it to your uncle to place...
-There it is...
-What? Is it the little creature?
-It's receiving. -It's receiving in the forest.
-Put the aguidi without...
Look at me. Put the aguidi there for Njila, without tobacco.
Bandagira Catendê.
Bandagira, please grant us permission to enter these forests.
Where's the tobacco?
Not there. Blow it upwards.
Where's the other one? Did you put a little cachaça with tobacco in the aguidi?
Where's my slipper?
Oh, people! How beautiful!
Did you see? Here's Isac, come see.
Spit out the tobacco, spit out the tobacco.
-See Nkosi waiting for us already, to guide us...
Remember what I told you? Nkosi has already sent...
The dog in our ritual represents Nkosi.
Nkosi is the owner of the paths.
So that explanation I gave earlier...
That we make our offerings to ask for permission to enter the forest...
You've already seen the signs appearing, the animals have already come to greet us...
It means that we are being welcomed to enter the forest.
Nkosi just sent his guardian to guide us.
-It's magical! -Let's go, my son.
-It disappeared. -Where is it? Give me the bottle here.
-Let me see.
Laroyê Exu! Exu is Mojubá! Bandagira!
-Do you want to pass?
-Spit it out. -Do you want to pass?
Then you pass and pass the tobacco to the person.
-Give it to me.
-There, now you pass some more cachaça.
-Give me a bit here...
Have you already passed?
Did you put a bit of cachaça in the aguidi?
-Put it in your hand, you'll take the cachaça, rub it, and pass it on your arm as a repellent.
Shall we go, folks? Shall we ask for permission from Njila?
Shall we?
Look at the plate. Where's the acaçá? Acaçá in the forest is for Oxóssi.
One aguidi and one acaçá inside the forest.
-Pick leaf by leaf, Tatamirô.
The maracanã leaf, oh Tatamirô.
He is the son of Juçara, Tatamirô.
Catendê is the owner of the leaves, Tatamirô.
-Pick leaf by leaf, Tatamirô.
The maracanã leaf, oh Tatamirô.
He is the son of Juçara, Tatamirô.
Catendê is the owner of the leaves, Tatamirô.
-Pick leaf by leaf, Tatamirô.
The maracanã leaf, oh Tatamirô.
He is the son of Juçara, Tatamirô.
Catendê is the owner of the leaves, Tatamirô.
-Pick leaf by leaf, Tatamirô.
The maracanã leaf, oh Tatamirô.
-So, this is a tree...
It's called Mulateiro.
It's a medicinal tree.
It's anti-inflammatory.
It can't only be used for medicine.
Just like its wood itself, it also serves as firewood...
Because it catches fire very well...
It has a very nice smell...
It adds an extra flavor to cooking...
And at the same time, this flavor released by the wood...
It also heals automatically, inside the person.
If they need something, they can ask.
If they need some healing...
The person can approach the tree, ask for permission...
Ask... Because each tree has its own spirit.
So this spirit listens and heals.
Not only spiritually but physically as well.
And then, we have to deserve it for this healing to happen.
-Azanadô...
It's not a coincidence that I find you here.
You, who came in the holds of the slave ship...
By Francisco de Etra.
A free Jeje black.
Who was in a relationship with the founder of the Gantois terreiro.
And today I find you here.
You went to the Bogum terreiro...
Left the Gantois terreiro...
Because the House is Keto.
And went to the Bogum terreiro...
To perform this cult.
And this cult is passed down orally...
And through the hands of Francisco de Etra...
The perpetuation of this little-known cult...
People don't know Francisco de Etra.
And only those who received the passage of everything...
It's the beginning of everything! It was the fertilization!
Azanadô is the fertilization of all the Voduns...
Pairing with pair, brother with brother...
To generate the great Pantheon.
Is that right?
This tree came with a black man named Francisco de Etra...
Who was in a relationship with Júlia Figueiredo.
She is a descendant...
Of the family of Dona Menininha of Gantois.
And his cult, Francisco de Etra took it to the Bogum terreiro.
My priestess is named Tokensi...
She was initiated in that terreiro.
And orally, she passed on...
The cult of this tree, which is the beginning of everything for us.
He mated one with another, a Vodum with another...
To form the great Pantheon, which we cultivate.
I was very impressed to arrive here...
And find...
Because you know the deities...
Over the years, as the cult evolved...
These are the signs that nature gives you.
In the morning, when I woke up...
Seven or eight little birds came inside the house...
And they started singing, singing, singing, singing...
I thought, "It's a sign!" I need to go...
And it wasn't planned. I arrived here and found another sign.
For perpetuation... To carry on...
The cult... To carry on the tradition...
The oral tradition that was passed on.
I'm telling you all this in a natural way, you know?
It touched me, it moved me.
-My Indigenous Caboclo, what are you doing here?
I wander through foreign lands searching for my knowledge.
My Indigenous Caboclo, what are you doing here?
I wander through foreign lands, searching for my knowledge.
My Indigenous Caboclo.
-When we...
One of our struggles...
With the government, with companies...
Is to make them understand...
That they're not just destroying material things.
They're not just destroying a mountain...
They're destroying, for us, the dwelling of the Enchanted beings.
They're not just removing a stone...
Taking this stone here...
This stone has an owner.
Someone placed it here, it has its purpose here.
This leaf, it has its purpose here.
It's not just a plant.
Here, it has life...
It's establishing contact here...
Communicating...
So people only think about the material...
But we also have the immaterial, the natural, and the supernatural.
They are inseparable, you can't separate them.
Ora yê yê mama Oxum.
I am a woman of Logun Edé.
Mythology tells us that Logun is the child of Oxóssi and Oxum.
He is a boy.
Logun is a boy whom the elderly listen to and respect.
Because in Candomblé, the elders are always a gain.
If we are here temporarily...
In Candomblé, the elders hold importance.
Unlike Western civilization.
The best place to grow old is still in Candomblé.
The older the forest...
The more strength it has...
More biodiversity, more diversity, more energy.
The older a river is, the more energy it has.
I chose to grow old in Candomblé and live in Candomblé.
Leaves are sacred to us.
When I was doing my doctoral thesis...
I asked a priest if he could give me a list of plants...
That are sacred...
He replied: For us, who are of Candomblé...
All plants are sacred.
Water is sacred...
The forest is sacred...
The air is sacred...
The rock is sacred...
So, my school of ecology is the mythology of the Orixás.
Here, we are heading to this gathering.
This gathering is for the Ewés, which are the leaves...
The West calls them the Plant Kingdom.
But we don't have a kingdom.
What we have are the leaves, the plants...
And they call them Ewé in Yoruba.
I like the idea of Ewé.
Because there's also something within Candomblé...
That plants have...
We learn that plants have sap, right?
Sap, in Candomblé, is called Ejé.
And animal blood is also called Ejé.
So there's no difference.
For us in Candomblé...
The word is the same.
The word is Ejé.
Ejé is the blood that flows in me...
And Ejé is the sap that flows in the plant.
I am connected to it.
It's through it that it brings the energy of the sun, but...
The essence of my axé...
No one is born into Candomblé without plants.
And no one dies without plants.
And no one lives without them.
Because it's Ejé! And it's this Ejé that gives me axé.
-Because when you enter the forest...
The forest speaks to you.
So, I tell the students like this: Be silent.
Silence is essential! You have to listen to the forest.
And the forest speaks to you. Many messages come from the forest.
Because by the sound of the wind you can tell...
Whether it's time for you to continue or if you should retreat.
Retreating from the forest...
Is an interpretation that you made that on that day, you can't pick.
I don't know why... It's the ancestral voices speaking there.
But at that moment, you can't interpret it.
You can only interpret it later.
There's the before, the during, and the after of harvesting insabas... Ewé Mimó.
-So that's it...
Did you see a snake passing by there?
-Snake? Wow! No... Did you see one? Big?
-No... it's a rattlesnake...
-Rattlesnakes are dangerous...
-Oh, look! This leaf is from Exu.
Laroyê Exu! Laroyê Exu!
Look how this leaf is beautiful! Look!
Green and yellow. Exu's leaf.
Laroyê Exu!
Laroyê!
Yes, there are many leaves here!
Many leaves!
Look at the jackfruit tree!
Apáòká.
Where Oxóssi fed.
Oxóssi fed from the jackfruit tree.
Blessing Apáòká! Blessing!
Blessing Ayá! Blessing Ayami! Blessing!
What a beautiful thing!
Look! Teteregun!
Blood washed! Xangô's leaf!
Marsh canna.
Oh, folks! Look here!
Jaborandi!
How delightful!
Jaborandi.
This leaf is also called "Nativo" (Native).
Look! Saint Gonçalinho's leaf.
This leaf is so rare...
This leaf is used for cleansing the house...
Saint Gonçalinho.
Very abundant! Very abundant indeed!
Nature is very generous, isn't it?
Very generous!
-There is no leaf that doesn't heal and no leaf that doesn't kill.
Agué prepared a drink with all the leaves from the forest.
Called "Amuá."
He got drunk. He got his brothers drunk.
He got anyone who tried that drink drunk.
Saint Gonçalinho.
As long as I live...
I will carry the name and knowledge of my ancestors...
And share what I can with the world.
-So what happens?
When the universe was created, I'll start from the Big Bang to here...
I could go back a bit before that...
But then there was the universal explosion...
The Earth is also a fragment of that explosion.
And it was a ball of fire.
It needed to cool down...
Because it would have nature, trees, etc., and human beings.
So Zambi needed the Earth to be cooler, like it is here, right?
So he sent the first Nkisi to bring water.
To cool down the Earth, the globe.
And this first Nkisi that came was water.
Called Angorô.
Rain.
The water fell on the Earth. It cooled the Earth.
And so the Earth kept cooling but the core remained hot.
Which of course we understand why.
When the Earth was cool, Zambi sent the second Nkisi.
Catendê.
Who is the tree.
The tree.
And also Catendê, wherever he passed, a tree would grow.
Why was it born? Because the Earth was already cool.
Then Angorô got mad about it. He said, "Wait a minute..."
"Until yesterday, I was the only one in charge here..."
"I came here to cool it down here."
"And now that it's cool, another guy comes here to..."
Catendê: "I have nothing to do with that. Talk to Zambi..."
"He told you to plant trees here. I have nothing to do with that..."
"And another thing: everything here is medicine, you see?"
"Because later, people will come here, and each of these trees is medicine."
Then Angorô said, "I'm going to kill you, that's for sure!"
And he chased after Catendê.
The more he chased Catendê...
The more water... He was water...
More water came out of Angorô...
The cooler the Earth got...
The more trees grew...
The more trees grew, the more Catendê did his part.
Pick leaf by leaf, Tatamirô.
The maracanã leaf, my Tatamirô.
He is the son of Juçara, Tatamirô.
Catendê, the owner of the leaves, Tatamirô
Pick leaf by leaf, Tatamirô.
The maracanã leaf, my Tatamirô.
He is the son of Juçara, Tatamirô.
Catendê is the owner of the leaves, Tatamirô.
Hey mouth of the forest, let my caboclo pass, mouth of the forest...
To sing... Enchantment is to sing. To sing...
We need to enchant ourselves, to admire ourselves...
And with the leaves, we can enchant through the smell...
Through singing because you have to sing to them...
You are enchanting the leaves, right?
The wind is blowing in the forests, the leaves are falling to the ground.
The wind is blowing, the leaves are falling...
Caboclo will pick them up with his hands.
The wind is blowing, the leaves are falling...
Caboclo will pick them up with his hands.
So when we sing, we enchant.
And everything that we...
Our songs, our prayers, our chants are sung.
This is one of the various forms of enchantment that we have.
Because when we sing, we also enchant the leaf...
And it grants us permission, it releases its active principles...
Our subjectivity is present, creating this alchemy...
Creating this elevation of powers.
This confluence...
This interaction between the human body and the leaves, right?
Ossanhe, queen of the leaves, Tatamirô.
Pick leaf by leaf, Tatamirô.
I am a child of the leaves, Tatamirô.
Ossanhe is the queen of the leaves, Tatamirô.
Pick leaf by leaf, Tatamirô.
I am a child of the leaves, Tatamirô.
In the face of this diversity. Diversity of plants.
Diversity of Ewé Mimó.
Diversity of insabas.
We are here to give thanks...
In the name of our leader, in the name of Oxalá.
Ora yê yê mother Oxum... Ora yê yê mother Oxum...
Wait a moment. Wait a moment. Wait, Nkosi.
Let's go.
Goodbye, goodbye...
We're already leaving...
Let's go with God, and Our Lady...
Goodbye, goodbye... I'm already leaving...
Let's go with God, and Our Lady...
Goodbye, give me a safe journey, as you did for the saracura.
God, give me a safe journey, as you did for the saracura.
He flapped his wings and flew away, good things don't rush.
-I was in the forest, when I heard the bell ring.
I was in the forest, when I heard the bell ring.
I knelt, laid the ear on the ground...
I gave a scream and a whistle with the arrival of the Sultan.
I knelt, I laid the ear on the ground...
I gave a scream and a whistle with the arrival of the Sultan.
Sultan, Sultan, Sultan, my good Sultan.
Sultan is a brave caboclo with a good heart.