The Dances and Circles of São Gonçalo among Quilombolas and Caiçaras and Helicoidal Temporality: A Music-Cosmological Ethnographic Theory

Abstract

This essay derives from the Dances and Circles of Saint Gonçalo among Brazilian maroon and caiçara communities an ethnographic theory of helicoidal temporality. Drawing on ethnographic and musicological approaches, the work problematizes the historical origin of these festivities, traditionally associated with Portugal, and proposes an analysis that considers ancestry and cultural practices as constitutive—in the strong sense of the term—of the political community of these populations. It is grounded in theories that conceive rhythm as a technical apparatus (Foucault) and in reflections on non-linear temporalities (Martins, Mbiti), which recognize the circular, spiral, and helicoidal dimensions of lived time. The methodology included the analysis of historical sources, ethnographic accounts, and interviews with masters and participants of the Saint Gonçalo circles in Lagoa das Emas (PI) and Cananéia (SP). The results highlight three helicoidal markers: (i) restart with difference, in which each festivity creates its own temporality linked to ancestral cosmo-logics; (ii) multi-scalar coupling, integrating natural and social rhythms; and (iii) reversibility of causalities, in which origins and effects are performatively constituted in the present. It is concluded that the movement of the dances—especially the swirling of skirts and bodies in the circle—constitutes a form of community and political production in which the past remains continuously present and time is experienced as an event rather than as a linear sequence. Thus, Saint Gonçalo operates as a cosmic agent mediating a temporality that is both produced by and productive of communal bonds.