Madureira Park hosts ecumenical event on Saint Sebastian holiday

Madureira Park, in the North Zone of Rio, was the setting for an important ecumenical meeting on the morning of Wednesday (20/01), the São Sebastião holiday. Organized by the Environment Department, the event brought together seven representatives of different religious groups around a baobab tree, known as the 'Tree of Life'. The chosen location was symbolic, since the tree is the “daughter” of the famous “João Gordo” baobab tree, uprooted from a beach in Paquetá in July 2020. The event was attended by the Secretary of the Environment, Eduardo Cavaliere, as well as Marcus Faustini (Secretary of Culture), Laura Carneiro (Secretary of Social Welfare), Anna Laura Secco (Secretary of Conservation), and Diego Vaz, deputy mayor of the North Zone.

Cavaliere highlighted that the symbolism of the baobab, which alludes to resistance and belonging, is fundamental for Rio to regain its leading role in the environmental agenda.

– Rio, and particularly the neighborhoods in the North Zone, suffer from the lack of trees. May this act inspire everyone. Let’s distribute natural resources to the areas that need them most. The mobilization for the environment goes far beyond the Secretariat, and environmental restoration is a point of contact for inter-religious dialogue – said the secretary.

 

 

The event was attended by dancers from the Portela, Império Serrano and Em Cima da Hora samba schools. The baobab had been planted in the park by members of Portela, in conjunction with the Planta Paquetá movement, on November 20, 2020, in celebration of Black Awareness Day. The symbolism and history of the imposing trees of African origin will be portrayed in the theme “Igi Osè Baobá”, by carnival artists Renato Lage and Márcia Lage, which the blue-and-white group from Osvaldo Cruz and Madureira will present at the next carnival. A baobab can live for more than a thousand years.

Under intense heat, religious representatives symbolically embraced the baobab tree. And they prayed the prayer of Saint Francis. The Candomblé Bantu priest Lemba Dyala reinforced the importance of the baobab:

– In a hundred years there will be shadow, but there will also be memory.

Alana Morgana Bruxa, from the Wicca Union of Brazil, corroborated:

– We came to defend ecology, which is part of our struggle.

The request from Paulo Maltz, from the Israelite Federation of Rio, sounded like a cry.

– Do not destroy the trees. They contain the fruits that will sustain life.

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January 20, 2021

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