Die Performance des "mouro" in Nordportugal

This book is about Christian and Moor performances taking place in religious festivities in northern Portugal today with particular focus on the St. John the Baptist feast called Bugiada in Sobrado (Douro) on June 24, 2005, the Festa dos Caretos in Torre de Dona Chama (Trs-os-Montes) on December 26, 2005 and the popular theatre of the Auto da Floripes in Neves (Minho) on August 5, 2006. It results from fieldwork carried out by the author in Portugal between 2004 and 2007 in the context of a doctoral thesis on Portuguese ritual dances, dance dramas and popular theatre known under the umbrella term "mourisca". Although the studied performances differ in form, they are all associated with the performative genre of the "mourisca" that is found in and outside Europe. The mourisca is, according to the author`s definition, a dramatic, sometimes ritual, often processional dance of exotic character that sometimes contains warlike elements. The mourisca variant of a mock battle between Christians and Moors is in Portugal today found mainly in the north of the country. The author`s initial interest in the association of mourisca with mouro resulted from the fact that different authors had deduced that the mourisca came from a dance performed by the Moors. By looking closer at the element of the "mouro" in the imagination and representation of the communities performing the particular dance dramas the author tried to discover if this element could be used for a comparison between different mourisca variants and to provide a definition of "the mourisca". The term "mouro" in Portugal is not just related to the Moors, but also has different connotations that are explained in the book. The study then departs from the hypothesis that the "mouro" is still found today in the imagination of the northern Portuguese population as a remembrance of a figure from Portuguese history (the historical Moor) as well as a myth ("the time of the mouros") and projective figure (local imagination, legends) and that this is also manifested in mourisca dance dramas. The prologue of the book introduces the issues of this research and turns the reader`s attention to the setting up of the author`s own cognitive construct. In the introduction, the history of the Moors on the Iberian Peninsula and cultural politics in Portugal, as well as the way the book was constructed, are demonstrated. The core of the book is divided into three sections: an ethnographic presentation of the results of the author`s field research, a critical analysis of the literature and finally an analysis of the terms "mouro" and "mourisca" based on the first and second sections. In the construction of these terms the author considers their imagination of the respective rural communities as well as their performance in the examined religious feasts. The conclusions are deduced from an analysis of the described feasts, historical sources and conversations with informants and discuss the questions: 1) Why is the mourisca associated with the mouro?, 2) Can the mouro as a significant unit be used in a comparison of mourisca variants?, 3) Why are the imagination of the mouro and performances of mouriscas still found in northern Portugal today?. The author concludes that over time two terms had amalgamated that originally had nothing to do wich each other, namely the dance of the Moors and the term "mourisco" for objects associated with Moors. In the context of question 2 it is shown that the mouro of the studied mouriscas demonstrates formal and semantic characteristics despite different festive contexts. These characteristics have also been observed by other authors in mourisca performances in Spain and Mexico. In question 3 the "How and Why" of the transmission of the studied cultural phenomena is discussed. Important points in the "Why" are the persuasive force of dance and movement, the dealing with the past, as well as the creation of national and local identity. The author`s attention turned to this last issue after dealing with historical sources, the influence of cultural politics of the Estado Novo, conversations with informants and observations of anthropologists and sociologists on the situation of Islam in Portugal. In general, the author observes a strong clinging to their own history in the studied rural communities and in Portuguese historiography. The appendices contain a glossary of the Portuguese terms used in the book, musical and choreographical transcriptions, the text of the Auto da Floripes, the procedure of the author`s research, a referential bibliography as well as a list of the 43 illustrations and the description of the accompaniment DVD that serves to illustrate the studied cultural phenomena.