I.

On May 15, after four straight years of scheduling conflicts, Elisa and I were finally able to make the annual festa in tiny Santa Rita (pop. < 12). We’d wanted desperately to attend since 2021 (we have a lot of friends in the area), but it was beginning to feel impossible. Too many parties.

Winter is a festive time across Brazil, and the Espinhaço backcountry (where it coincides with the dry season, from May to September) is no exception. All across the range, residents load up their cars (or horses, or mules) with snacks, mattresses, kids, and coolers, and make the long and usually bumpy ride out to the “roça”, where they’ll spend afternoons feasting on churrasco and catching up with friends & family, and the wee hours dancing the night away. Many of the festivals this time of year are in honor of Catholic saints and feature processions (some of which are truly beautiful) and mass. Others are more intimate family affairs or a combination of both, with relatives and friends coming from Diamantina, Bêlo Horizonte, Rio, São Paulo, or beyond.

Elisa and I have been attending and documenting the Espinhaço’s festas since 2021. On the work front, they’re the pefect place to meet locals (and their extended families), hear stories, and snap non-landscape/trail photos. As travelers, they’re the perfect place to people watch, rehydrate, and put on some pounds (free all you-can-eat comida mineira, anyone?) between expeditions.

For a variety of reasons (including a pair of photography projects), we’ve taken our partying up a notch in 2026. To date this year, we’ve attended festas in Santa Rita (in May), São Gonçalo do Rio das Pedras (in May and June), Macacos (July), Inhai (July), and Mata dos Crioulos (August). We also managed to squeeze in a pair of festas juninas across the state in Martinho Campos (in June and July) and (not so relatedly, but… also relatedly) an art gallery opening in Diamantina in August. In September, we’ll be driving to the festa in Curimataí. In October, we’ll be riding horses to the festa in Pé de Serra.

As exhausting as it’s been (and for all the fun we tend to have, it really is a lot), it pains us to think how much more productive we could have been. Conflicting dates meant missing out on the annual festivals in Gouveia (“Kobufest”, which our oldest son attended; on the same dates as the party in Macacos), Quartel do Indaiá (same dates as Mata dos Crioulos), Cemitério do Peixe (a party we hadn’t missed since 2022; same dates as Mata dos Crioulos), São João da Chapada (same dates as Curimataí), Capivari, Milho Verde (same dates as Field Trip no. 13), and Turmalina (same dates as Macacos; outside our usual guiding territory, but a party we’ve been hoping to attend for years).

As if missing out on the once-a-year chance to document vibrant scenes isn’t painful enough, the locals always make sure to let us know that we missed a really good party.

Oh well, there’s always next winter. :)

– Eddie