Acceso usuarios
Gerald Greenfield
Brazil's extensive Atlantic coastline has profoundly influenced the nation's history, serving as the initial locus for colonial settlement, and, subsequently, the site for almost all its major cities. Rio de Janeiro has long been the nation's dominant international tourist destination. While Carnival remains the city's most popular event, Reveillon, the New Years Eve celebration on Copacabana beach in honor of the sea goddess, Iemanjá, has become a major tourist draw. A familiar personage in Brazilian popular culture, Iemanjá is a major deity in African-Brazilian religions. African and African-Brazilian beliefs, historically associated with lower class and mixed race peoples, were long scorned by Brazilian elites as the superstitious practices of ignorant people. The majority of practitioners of African-Brazilian religions in contemporary Brazil are lower class and visibly of mixed race. The Reveillon evokes and commodifies Brazil's preferred national image as a multicultural, multiracial democracy free of the Western stain of racism. As such, the celebration serves as a confirming ritual for Brazilians while, at the same time, packaging and presenting that image to tourists.
