ABSTRACT
Amado’s novel includes an account of Mestre Pastinha’s convention of masters, who have met to discuss the future of capoeira. The fact that the meeting would include a ‘show’ sets the stage for our chapter on UK festivals: they are ‘a show’. Our research has been based in and on contemporary capoeira groups who have baptisms (batizados) for their novices, award belts (cordas) in a hierarchical system of colours that mark the level achieved by the student and the authority of the teacher, and have a celebratory semipublic event twice a year called a festival, batizado or graduation. These festivals are the focus of this chapter, and are explored from the student perspective using the concept of the rite of passage and the teacher perspective using the concept of the tournament of value.
