Abstract
Taking the notion of ritual as a guideline, this essay focuses on the association between affections, the obligatory expression of feelings and the social experience of the groups involved in the annual production of the Ox Dance festival in Parintins, Amazonas. Apprehended from an ethnographic standpoint, the notion of ritual leads to the analysis of the remarkable rivalry between the two groups of Bumbás that characterizes the festive ambiance. This rivalry is understood as a continuous ritual production and the native notion of play (brincadeira) gains special prominence as a link that unites the ethnographic data to the conceptual elaboration of the very same notion of play which conveys the ambivalence characteristic of agonistic exchanges. The festive preparation generates, by means of innumerable taboos, provocations and confrontations, the growing rivalry between the two playful groups, which transmutes into full artistic expression in the festive arena. There, the sought-after splendor of the performances is stimulated by the obsessive desire to overcome and defeat the "contrary". The article concludes with an analysis of the rite which, by openly producing the exacerbation of rivalry, surreptitiously promotes the necessary complementarity and full recognition of the other, which establishes the possibility of play and makes it real in the festive ritual.
Key words:
Ritual and symbolism; Play; Rivalry; Affection; Amazonian Ox Dance Festival