O sertanejo e as experiências de inverno no Seridó Potiguar

• Main Authors: Neusiene Medeiros da Silva, Anna Jéssica Pinto de Andrade, Cimone Rozendo de Souza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal do Paraná 2013-06-01
• Series: Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente
• Subjects: Country People; Drought; Winter Experiences; Popular Meteorology
• Online Access: http://ojs.c3sl.ufpr.br/ojs2/index.php/made/article/view/29829/20673

The practice of the so-called "Winter Experiences” by the country people is usual in the Northeast region of Brazil. It consists on the observation of landscape elements, such as fauna, flora, the stars, among others, aiming to forecast rain or droughts. The “Winter Experiences” set up a repertoire of historically constructed strategies, which mediate the relationship between country people in the semi-arid regions and droughts. In this paper, we analyze to which extent these experiences guide the productive practices of farmers living in the region of the Seridó Potiguar. The study area covers rural communities in the cities of Caicó, Acari, Parelhas and Lagoa Nova. 241 farmers in 29 communities were interviewed. This study revealed that despite the high diffusion scientific forecasts fail to overcome the traditional knowledge of Winter Experiences. It was observed that these experiences are widely spread among farmers, perform different roles in their lifestyles and extrapolate the organization of the productive system. Beyond the prevention of environmental bad elements and forecast of rain and droughts, these Experiences play a symbolic role as mediators of Faith in God and as feeders of the country people hope. Therefore, the Winter Experiences practice by farmers in Seridó figure as strategies of social reproduction of a specific lifestyle, keeping the hope of a “good winter year” rather than organizing their productive activities.