The year 1998 was marked in the study of cultural processes in global contexts by studies and events focused on issues of cultural archaeology in their relations with worldviews and ancient natural philosophy. The consideration of this theme, corresponding to the Culture/Nature program of the Brazil-Europe organization, continued studies developed in previous decades on the foundations of the analysis of cultural processes in transnational contexts, discussed at an international congress held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Discovery of America.

The significance and necessity of researching foundations as a precondition for the grounded development of research and analysis of cultural practices, as well as the meaning of the visual language of festive calendar traditions, were highlighted at the inaugural conference of the Brazil-Europe Academy's study center in 1997, in a session held under the auspices of the Brazilian Embassy in Germany.

The theme had been addressed from the perspective of symbolic anthropology through music at a meeting held at the Royaumont study center in France, on the occasion of the founding of the Institute for the Study of Musical Culture of the Portuguese-Speaking World in 1985, further developed in a study of Christian Musical Anthropology that motivated the creation of the Brazilian Society of Anthropology of Music and a ceremony at the University of Cologne in 1997.

The ancient image of the musician-singer, transmitted through the centuries in the visual language of Catholicism, present in Brazilian traditions in the worship and festive acts of Saint Gonçalo do Amarante, already considered in its significance at the 1st International Symposium on Sacred Music and Brazilian Culture in São Paulo in 1981, was the focus of attention in studies developed in the city of Amarante along the Tâmega River, a secondary tributary of the Douro. On that occasion, the need for a Portuguese-Brazilian colloquium was discussed for the adequate consideration of the meaning of the cult of Saint Gonçalo in Portugal and Brazil, due to the fact that the Brazilian tradition is closely linked to issues relating to music and the symbolism of instruments that indicate the permanence of images of ancient origins.

The event was scheduled to take place in Brazil in 1998 to commemorate Vasco da Gama's rounding of the Cape of Storms or Cape of Good Hope in 1498 during his first voyage to India (1497-1498). The importance of considering a system of conceptions and visions of the world and of man transmitted from Antiquity in its Christian interpretation in the study of the Discoveries was highlighted in lectures given to the Lagos Discoveries Commission and at the University of Coimbra in 1997. These lectures emphasized the relationship between conceptions of man and the collective image of the ship or boat, present in the imagery of Ulysses, the seafaring hero reflected in the name of Lisbon and in traditions of the nave in Brazil.

The international colloquium, entitled Anthropos ludens, held as part of the Vasco da Gama Year celebrations in São Paulo, was supported by the National Commission of Portuguese Discoveries and by Portuguese, Brazilian, and German institutions. Sessions were held in Brazilian regions and cities of importance for studies of the cult and dance of Saint Gonçalo do Amarante. The debate between Portuguese and Brazilian researchers took place at the Brazilian study center of the Institute for the Study of Musical Culture of the Portuguese-Speaking World and in the City Hall of Joanópolis, as well as in the auditorium of the Ubatuba Cultural Foundation. Participants thus had the opportunity to witness different expressions of the cult and festive practices of Saint Gonçalo do Amarante in Brazil. The event concluded with a session held at the Pátio do Colégio in São Paulo, highlighting the role of missionaries in transmitting images of ancient origins in a Christianized form in Brazil and other regions of the globe discovered and colonized by the Portuguese.

The 1998 Euro-Brazilian cultural cycle began with visits to archaeological sites in the Mediterranean, aiming to expand and update knowledge gained from archaeological-cultural and imagological studies developed since the 1970s in museums and ancient ruins in various regions of Europe. Attention was directed to Sicily, with visits in June 1998 to several locations and their archaeological collections, including Taormina, Syracuse, Neto, and Agrigento. The reflections undertaken in these different contexts highlighted the significance of the ancient Hellenic expansion in the Mediterranean for studies of the foundations of cultural processes, the history of colonizations and migrations, as well as the transmission of images of the world and of humankind in different contexts.

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International Colloquium: Anthropos Ludens

500 Years Since Vasco da Gama's Voyage

Joanópolis, Ubatuba, São Paulo

Exhibition of posters on the Portuguese discoveries

at the Joanópolis Town Hall

National Commission for the Commemoration of the Portuguese Discoveries

Program

Events in Joanópolis

Preparatory Study Cycle

- History and Scope of the Colloquium

- Der Sankt-Gonçalo-Tanz: Eine Einführung (1979)

- Dance of Saint Gonçalo at the International Symposium "Sacred Music and Brazilian Culture" (1981)

- The Old and the New in Christian Musical Anthropology

- Der alte und der neue Mensch in der christlichen Musikanthropologie

- Notwendigkeit der Erforschung musikanthropologischer Auffassungen

- Music and the Science of the Discoveries

- Zu Begriff und Methode

- Bibliographical References

Public events

- Greeting from the Municipal Commission of the Discoveries of Lagos

- Science of science and science transmitted by tradition

- The Age of Discoveries, Culture and Science

- Music during the Journey of Vasco da Gama

- Influence of the East on Portuguese Thought in the Middle Ages

- Paths to a Reciprocal Anthropology

- External Signs of Expression in the Middle Ages and the Cult of Saint Gonçalo of Amarante

- Office of Saint Gonçalo do Amarante by André de Resende

- Dance of Saint Gonçalo in Joanópolis and its Worrying Fate

- Dance of Saint Gonçalo in Bom Jesus dos Perdõe

Dossier

- Materials for the Study of the Cult of Saint Gonçalo of Amarante in Portugal

- Fr. Diogo do Rosário OP, Flos sanctorum

- Antonio José da Silva, Comédia

- Commitment of the Brotherhood of São Gonçalo, Vila Rica, 1725

- O Pirolito, Amarante, 1916

- Fr. Croiset, The Christian Year, 1923

- Guide to Portugal, 1985

- A. de M. R. da Cunha, São Gonçalo, 1997

- Fr. Amaro Gonçalo, São Gonçalo, 1997

Events in Ubatuba

- Roundtable: Research Status

- Conferences

- Cult act with dance at the altar of S. Gonçalo

- Concert Program