Arriving at the village of Marcelino is an attraction in itself when visiting Lençóis Maranheses. After about 40 minutes sailing through the waters of the Preguiça River, in the opposite direction to what tourists usually do, you discover a part of the region that has not yet been widely publicized.
But it is in this town, full of culture, colorful houses and a lot of talent, that a craft was born that has won over tourists who go in search of something beyond the lakes in the middle of the desert. Dedicated artisans live in the Marcelino community, who use Buriti fiber, a tree characteristic of the region, to make bags, sandals, table coverings and decorative objects that take a piece of northeastern Brazil to the four corners of the world.
Let’s get to know a little more about the crafts made in Lençóis Maranhenses?
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We spoke with Dona Sônia, one of the creators and responsible for the Cooperativa dos Artesãos dos Lençóis Maranhenses, an initiative of women artisans who live in the villages around Barreirinhas, the gateway to Grandes Lençóis Maranhenses.
Today, the inhabitants of the village, with the help of Sebrae Maranhão, promote Community-Based Tourism. In addition to crafts, residents show tourists a little about life in the community, which ends up being the source of income for several families there.
“I’ve lived here for 40 years. When I arrived in Marcelino, my life was working in agriculture. Then I brought the women together, made a group to work on crafts. Then, SEBRAE came to train us with workshops and courses to better organize ourselves in the dyeing, finishing and modeling of bags that we could make for the market”, explains Sônia.
After improving their workforce, they formed an association – then it was no longer just a project for Povoado Marcelino. Over time, they formed the Lençóis Maranhenses Artisan Cooperative, based in Barreirinhas. From then on, the work was carried out in conjunction with other communities in the rural area.
“People produce in the communities and then we take it to Barreirinhas. There we put it on display, to be sold to tourists and also receive orders”. In the village of Marcelino, they also welcome tourists and have a little shop. It is possible to see up close the process of extracting, dyeing, drying and making the pieces.
The activity dates back a long time, being an indigenous tradition. “I started working with Buriti fiber together with my mother, but we were only making one type of product, which was the body bag. Then, after this knowledge came, we started working with another type of plot. And it passed from generation to generation.”
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Buriti fiber: the material that gives life to the crafts of Lençóis Maranhenses
“We have a person within the community capable of removing the ‘eye’. He goes to the swamp, then he takes the eye and brings it to us here at the craft house. We receive the eye and remove the fiber”. It’s in the eye, the name given to the youngest Buriti leaf, where the fiber is that will become straw at the end of the process.
It is worth mentioning that this process is carried out every three months. The period is necessary for another leaf to be born and for it to be possible to maintain the sustainability of the Buriti tree.
“We are more concerned about our nature, about the buriti trees. We also replant the buriti groves so as not to lose our work, because if we don’t replant, in a few more days we will no longer have the buriti to give us our work, our crafts”.
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Once harvested, it is up to the village’s women to remove the fiber from the buriti: this is the beginning of the dyeing process. “We work with natural production, with the colors of nature”, says Sônia. To dye, they use annatto, saffron and other natural dyes, all grown in the yard.
After dyeing, it spends approximately 5 hours with the straw on the clothesline, waiting for it to dry. When it dries, it becomes the object of work for skilled hands, who transform everything into a product to be sold all over the world – and known as the “crafts of Lençóis Maranhenses”.
“There are many people who come here, so they spread our story. They pass from one to the other. We have already received many people here who were recommended by other people and came to meet us”, says Sônia. The final result of so much work, Sônia proudly presents, in the images that illustrate this text.
If you want to visit the town, some tour companies run the route. You can look for Caetés or Vale dos Lençóis. The tour leaves from Barreirinhas and is done by boat, sailing along the Preguiças River. To find out more about the Cooperative, get to know Artesol.
Did you like the work of the artisans from the Marcelino community and want to know more about the crafts in Lençóis Maranhenses? How about keeping an eye on their websites?
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