The day of the festival had finally arrived! We spent the morning getting into a festive spirit by creating our own tye-dye shirts using natural dyes from the forest. The t-shirts may have been store bought but the seeds, leaves and bark used to create eco-prints were all handpicked from the forest.

 

The process seemed fairly simple until we had to try it for our selves. Once your organic dying agent has been picked, you need to use twine to fold, twist and contort your shirt in a way that will produce a beautiful design. The areas without twine will absorb the colour. While this is taking place, a pot of water should be boiling on the stove. Once the t-shirt is ready, you place the parts of it you would like to colour into the water along with your organic dying agent. This is left to boil for 30-40 minutes, after which the shirt is removed, untied and hung to dry.

 

The festive spirit led Dona and Jeannine to a new use for the organic dyes - hair dying! The result was truly impressive and reminded us that the forest has more to offer than meets the eye.

 

The evening brought sacred parades, fireworks, guests from as far as Manaus, live bands, bingo, free food stalls (one of which served our pe de moleque), games and plenty of laughter. It was a beautiful sight seeing people we have met interacting with their community in capacities (and clothes) different from those in which we knew them. It was a reminder of the awe-inspiring complexity of a human being.