THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY




Last Saturday, 13 June, was the traditional Feast Day celebrating Saint Anthony, the much loved patron and protector of children and the family. It was also the first of three feast days in June, inculding Saint John on the 23rd and Saint Peter on the 28th. Collectively, these days are called the Festivals of June and they include a rich popular culture of food, music, costumes, rituals (both secular and spiritual), and more. And as, you can see above, Céu do Planalto in Brasilia was all dressed up with colorful and magical decorations.

Opening the Santo Daime Festival of June, the celebration of Saint Anthony involves a full night of singing and dancing the hymnal of Padrinho Sebastião and more. Totalling nearly 200 hymns, the ritual stretches from around 9pm until the morning.

There's really no way to describe or document ceremony like this in words, so here is a sequence of videos moving across the entire night...



















With the morning sunlight flooding into the Salon, Lucío Mortimer's final hymn (received just before his passing) was sung with tremendous joy. It speaks of Lucío's illumination and of his great love for Padrinho Sebastião.



No work is quite complete without a birthday. Here's Lucas...





These past two months, during which I have been here at my home-away-from-home Céu do Planato, have been a time of joyous reunion for me. So many friends and loved ones are here. And what a beautiful new church! So much to be grateful about. As I will return soon to Acre for the remainder of the June Festival, I am feeling a saudade already. I give vivas to the whole community and a special PARABÈNS to Gabriela and Marcelo who will be married at the ceremony of São João.

I LOVE YOU ALL.

MAKING BIRTHDAYS IN THE SANTO DAIME

Birthdays are a big thing generally in Brazilian culture and the Santo Daime tradition has its own special ways of celebrating them. As usual, it's a making or a performance.

Here is Ken's recent birthday in Brasilia



and here's a bunch being celebrated together at Bujari...




Parabéns para todos os aniversários!

SANTO DAIME FESTIVAL IN BRASILIA: Connecting the City and the Forest

Brazil's national capital, Brasilia, is located in the great cerrado grassland of the central plateau or high plane (planalto) which is an ecological interior zone between the mountains of southeastern Brazil and the Amazon basin forest. As in Brazil in general, its capital is where many cultural and spiritual traditions meet and mix.

In the ceremonies of Santo Daime one can feel as if in a celestial bus station with lines to many cultures and places. Africa, Europe, Amazônia, forge new mixtures of the Old and the New. In this personal interior zone, the rituals of Santo Daime offer a profound celebration of the universality of Spirit -- many paths and many people.

Last week in Brasilia a Santo Daime festival of spiritual works began by celebrating the birthday of Céu do Planalto and inauguration of its new church with the singing of Padrinho Alfredo's, "O Cruzeirinho". In two subsequent seesions the festival continued with the singing of Padrinho Fernando's hinario, "Na Força do Padrinho Sebastião" and Padrinho Alfredo's hinario, "Nova Era" at Céu do Planalto and then ending at Divina Luz with Madrinha Conceição's hinario, "Forças Verdadeiras" and selections from Padrinho Sebastião's hinario, "Nova Jerusalém".

Truly, it seemed as if the Orixás from Africa, Caboclos from Amazônia, Christian Celestial Beings and the expanding family of Juramidam were journeying together in a great celebration.

Here are some of the videos...

Hymns from Padrinho Fernando's Na Força do Padrinho Sebastião sung at Ceu do Planato:





Hymns from Padrinho Alfredo's Nova Era sung at Ceu do Planalto:





Hymns from Madrinha Conceição's Forças Verdadeiras sung at Divina Luz:





Hymns from Padrinho Sebastião's Nova Jerusalém sung at Divina Luz:





I have posted many more videos from this festival (and others) at youtube. Click here to view them.

ceudoplanalto26@daime.brasilia

The Santo Daime community of Ceu do Planalto has a new church and a marvelous festival has begun in Brasilia. It began on 21 April with the singing of the O Cruzeirinho hymns of Padrinho Alfredo.

Here's are some pics...




And a few videos...








VIVA SANTO DAIME!

VIVA PADRINHO ALFREDO!

VIVA CEU DO PLANALTO!

VIVA PADRINHO FERNANDO!

VIVA MADRINHA CLARICE!

PARABÉNS PARA TODOS!

CEU DO PLANALTO AT 26

Today the Santo Daime community Ceu do Planalto celebrates its 26th year and newly renovated church in Brasilia, Brazil.

Here's a slideshow of pics -- present and past.





The community and Padrinho Alfredo will inaugurate its beautiful new church with the singing of O Cruzeirinho.

A Festival of Saints and Santo Daime

Ceu do Planalto
Brasilia, Brazil
12 June to 6 July 2008

I've been in Brasilia having a wonderful reunion with my friends at Ceu do Planalto which is the Santo Daime community where I first landed in Brazil.



My first connection came several years ago through an Oregon friend who delivered me into the friendship and home of José Murilo. Here I also found the gate to the world of Santo Daime in Brazil -- an opening which has led me to an ever-expanding treasure trove of friends and homes in many places, and to creating this blog to tell the stories.

It has been a special treat to spend this year's Festival among dear friends in Brasilia, far from the original forest setting of the Santo Daime, where a great study is taking place in which modern professional people are learning to incorporate the spiritual life learned from the Queen of the Forest while being centered in the bustling modernist capital of South America's largest country.


The Festivals Of June, as they are popularly known, are performed in many cultural iterations throughout Brazil.


Painting by Gervásio

They center around the feast days for Saint Anthony (guarding home and family), Saint John the Baptist (opening the door of transformation), Saint Peter (building the spiritual community) and, in the Santo Daime, there is an additional memorial day in July for Saint Irineu (the founder of the mission).

A great bonfire is central to all of the main festival nights.



There is an interesting legend behind the bonfire. Even though no one knows if it is true, the story is told that during Mary's pregnancy with Jesus, she learned that a prophecy had been received by Isabel, who was expecting the birth of John the Bapist. Mary traveled up into the hills above Nazareth to visit her and the two women exchanged talk of their experiences and intuitions. Isabel, who was expecting the first birth, told of a prophecy that a time of great transformation on earth would begin with the birth of John and be continued as both he and Jesus opened a light into the world.



Isabel said that she would let Mary know of John's birth through a great bonfire which would be lit as a signal that the transformation had begun. Nowadays there are many traditional festivals in Brazil which include a bonfire to celebrate the never-ending opportunity for human transformation, especially during the festas of June.

This year the festival began with the night of Santo Antonio and the wedding of Ken and Shobam.



Next, the community was delighted to receive Padrinho Alfredo and the comitiva of singers and musicians who had been traveling abroad and were now en route to their forest home center of Mapia in Amazonas.





Singing the Oração (prayer) of Padrinho Sebastiao with the family line is always a special treat.




A few nights later we celebrated the Night of St John but I was so preoccupied with my own process of transformation (whew!) that I never lifted my camera. Sorry, no photos from that night, just a note of gratitude for having been able to clear away so much old stuff as a result of the ritual.

Next came the 83rd birthday of Madrinha Rita (the widow of Padrinho Sebastião and matriarch of the family line)


Photo from June 2005

And then the night of Saint Peter during which the young and beautiful Irene received her star beginning her personal journey along the path of Santo Daime.





It was good to see Ana in the joy of expecting the birth of her first child.





The guys dressed for a cold winter night (in June!).

In the morning there were birthday celebrations for Clarice, Ricardo and Irene.







The hymns of Padrinho Alfredo were sung, ending with "My God, My Saint John."



The kids are getting bigger year-by-year


Helena and Isabel


Tiago and Cintia

The formal end of the Festivals of June occurs in early July with a ceremony commemorating the gift of Mestre Irineu with the singing of the hinario of Tetéo, which ends by saying that the power of the Santo Daime is no "small force."



Small force does not reach me
Small force does not confuse me
Because I have God with me
I am with the highest force

I have God with me
And I should pity no one
My Master is who determines me
I am with the highest force

This force is divine
It is the higher power
I'm with Her hand-in-hand
I am with the highest force

I am with the highest force
It is the higher power
I am with my Queen
And my Master teacher

Of course, there's really no adequate way to put all of this into words. I guess, for me, some pictures of the happy faces can better tell the story...


It was Lidia's birthday


Jesus is the happy face serving the Daime


Val and Neia


Ken and Fernando Luis


Marina and Marcelo


Ricardo spreading news from Save the Urubu, which is the neighborhood network for the conservation of the local watershed.


Manuel and Caetano


Vanesa


Morning light at the Festival's end. Bom Dia e Parabéns

There are more Festival Photos here.

Ceu do Planalto is 25



Ceu do Planalto -- my first Brazilian home and still my home-away-from-home -- is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary tomorrow, 21 April 2008.


Here are a few past photos that are some of my fondest memories of dear friends and marvelous events in this Santo Daime community on the edge of Brasilia.








































I send love, hugs and a big PARABENS to all.

Tenham uma grande festa!

Here is the full photo set.

The Night of Saint John at the Santo Daime church Céu do Planalto in Brasilia, Brazil.


(painting by Gervásio)

June and early July is the time of many Holy Days and festivals throughout Brazil. These gatherings of ritual and celebration also give an opportunity to share the blessing of friends.



The night of São João is a special time for honoring transformation -- a time of new starts as well as the deepening of things that already are. This year the Work of São João at Céu do Planalto in Brasilia included the induction of new members, a baptism and a special ceremony of blessing for the marriage and family of Cintia and Murilo. As the happiness of union was shared, joy moved through us as a marvelous contagion and we too were blessed.

The pictures tell the story best.



Viva alegria. Viva amor. Viva união.



























Click for more photos at flickr.