HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!!

GOOD MORNING!!!

DEAR DIARY: Well, I'm back to being un-employed... despite promises that I would be working the rest of the week. Hopefully I'll be working tomorrow... but on the bright side, I was invited to a Capoeira Batizado hosted by Capoeira Brasil tonight!







HUMANITY'S TEAM

~Albert Einstein

A human being is part of a whole, called by us, Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest…a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Spanish Translation

Un ser humano es parte de un todo, llamado por nosotros, Universo, una parte limitada en tiempo y espacio. Se vivencia a si mismo, sus pensamientos y sentimientos como algo separado del resto... una especie de ilusión óptica de su conciencia. Esta ilusión es un tipo de prisión para nosotros. Nuestra tarea deber ser liberarnos de esa prisión ampliando nuestro círculo de compasión y abrazando a todas las criaturas vivientes y la naturaleza toda en su belleza

French Translation

Un être humain est une partie d'un tout que nous appelons: Univers. Une partie limitée dans le temps et l'espace. Il s'expérimente lui-même, ses pensées et ses émotions comme quelque chose qui est séparé du reste, une sorte d'illusion d'optique de la conscience.

Cette illusion est une sorte de prison pour nous, nous restreignant à nos désirs personnels et à l'affection de quelques personnes près de nous. Notre tâche doit être de nous libérer nous-même de cette prison en étendant notre cercle de compassion pour embrasser toutes créatures vivantes et la nature entière dans sa beauté.
FROM HUMANITY'S TEAM
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So what is a capoeira Batizado? Well, here's a pretty good definition (Thanks, Wikipedia!!!)... The "Batizado" (baptism, in English) is a ceremonial roda where new students will get recognized as capoeiristas and earn their first graduation. Also more experienced students may go up in rank, depending on their skills and capoeira culture. In Mestre Bimba's Capoeira Regional, batizado was the first time a new student would play capoeira following the sound of the berimbau.

Students enter the roda against a high-ranked capoeirista (a teacher or master) and normally the game ends with the student being taken down. In some cases the more experienced capoeirista can judge the takedown unnecessary. Following the batizado the new graduation, generally in the form of a cord, is given.

Traditionally, the batizado is the moment when the new practitioner gets or formalizes his or her apelido (nickname). This tradition was created back when capoeira practice was considered a crime. To avoid having problems with the law, capoeiristas would present themselves in the capoeira community only by their nicknames. So if a capoeirista was captured by the police, he would be unable to identify his fellow capoeiristas, even when tortured.

Apelidos can come from many different things. A physical characteristic (like being tall or big), a habit (like smiling or drinking too much), place of birth, a particular skill, an animal, trivial things, anything.

Even though apelidos or these nicknames are not necessary anymore, the tradition is still very alive not only in capoeira but in many aspects of Brazilian culture.

Speaking of apelidos, there's a very interesting article on capoeira-connection.com, where Mestre Moraes shares his thoughts on that subject.

-----CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE-----

Here's a video which explains in detail what a batizado is, and what it entails, and in fact, the batizado in this video was hosted by the same group which invited me to the batizado in Downtown L.A.:



Of course, not all capoeira groups have batizados, and award cord ranks. There are some people who feel that batizados, belt ranks, etc. only serve to alienate the body of Capoeira from its soul, to divorce Capoeira away from its african roots and, as such, are making it look more like an Asian martial art form or a circus act.

Now there's no arguing the fact that Capoeira, like everything else, has greatly changed through the years. Today, Capoeira is a lot more commercialized than it was in the past, but I don't think it's any more commercialized than any other widely practiced martial art out there.

And the batizado does seem to be a special thing for the people who participate in them, as evidenced in the video above.

I've never been to a batizado, so I can't comment on whether they're good or bad, but maybe I'll find out tonight? But if I don't go tonight, they're also having a street roda at the Downtown L.A. Artwalk tomorrow, so I'll definetely go to that.


O.K., this is NOT a traditional Capoeira Song by ANY standards, but it is one of my favorites. It's called "WARRIOR" aka "GUERREIRO" aka "That Capoeira rap song" (FightDanceSing.com)

Now, I'm gonna end this blog with the most beautiful song in the whole, entire world.


------------CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT------------

Life can be very easy when love is your way of life. You can be loving all the time. This is your choice.
~don Miguel Ruiz