Tambor de Crioula

Whether outdoors, in the squares, inside the terreiros, or associated with other events and manifestations, it is carried out without specific location or fixed schedule and practiced especially in praise of St. Benedict (the black saint).^[1]

It is a circular dance marked by the percussion of three handmade drums (parelhas) covered in leather and tuned by fire and played by men (coureiros). The women (coureiras) with their beautiful round and colored skirts dance in a very peculiar choreography marked by the "punga" or "umbigada"^[2]

Other cultural manifestations typical of Maranhão are bumba-meu-boi and cacuriá.^[2]

In 2018, in the city of São Luís, capital of Maranhão, was founded the House of Tambor de Crioula (Casa do Tambor de Crioula), a museum dedicated to the preservation of the memory and tradition of this cultural expression, functioning as a research and documentation center and for the diffusion of dance, with a place for presentations.^[2]