If it's bigger than the one
in Morocco, I have no idea.
If it is something like a boisterous
exotic Persian street market,
I can't truthfully say either
because I've been to neither.
But, one thing I do know for
sure: The Caruaru street market-fair
is or probably should be the
largest of the kind in the whole
world. It's even bigger than
the one at Feira de Santana,
in the state of Bahia. A respectable-sized
collection of people and things,
spread over an enormous asphalt
square and confusing mess of
old, run-down buildings downtown,
and totally engulfed by an unbelievably
noisy Babilonian-style orquestra
of deafening sounds. Above all
the others, The Caruaru street
fair is worthy of my deepest
respect. It even tops the big
one at Teresinha, in Piauí
The street fair of Caruaru sort
of resembles one of those Chinese
New Year dragons, covered with
colorful drapes or whatever.
A monstrous serpent, sinuous
and wriggling, that carries
on indefinitely because it has
no beginning, and it has no
end. That's right! A Chinese
serpent or dragon, brightly
colored, twinklings of a thousands
crystal prisms and sparkling
forms. In other words, a fantastic
living kaleidoscope. The Caruaru
fair has the deafening power
of the Amazonian pororoca mixed
together with the geometry of
Serra Pelada, a restless, dancing,
boiling cloud, staggering crowds
coming and going with the final
objective of buying, selling.and
performing! To see and be seen.
The Caruaru street market, before
all else, is a maelstrom full
of life, enthusiasm and dreams.
So much is done at the Caruaru
fair! There, you can buy or
sell pumpkins, a thousand exotic
varieties of tropical fruits,
small monkeys, big monkeys,
chickens, dry meat, cassava
and coco flour, beautiful hand-made
woven baskets, stone and ceramic
pottery, coités, tapioca,
big antique bronze house keys,
lithographs, home-made rugs
of cotton, palm fiber, just
about everything under the sun!
Do you need your watch fixed?
How about a haircut? Or tattoo?
Perhaps you're in the mood for
a little depilation? Would you
like to try on this new three-day
lipstick? Do you want some sewing
done, maybe repair some old
damaged embroidery, you can
fry a few pieces of beef, if
you get hungry. Are you looking
for a yellow macaw feather for
your carnival fantasy? You can
even find miniature models of
the Apollo and Sputnick spacecraft.
Have no doubt! Visit the Caruaru
street fair to find out for
yourself, because there, you
can find anything you want.
Bedclothes and tablecloths,
ceremonial clothing sets for
baptisms, marriages, and any
other imaginable celebration,
leather cowboy pants and spurs,
dental floss, women's brassieres
and underwear of all sorts,
brilliant glossy hair ribbons,
belts, socks for men, socks
for women, socks for babies
and little kids, all this and
more, exposed in thirty thousand
different stands to be admired,
examined, haggled over and finally
sold.
At the Caruaru fair, you can
eat and drink, take a restless
nap in a hammock and dream,
have a shower, walk or run.
You can even stand still in
one place if you feel like it.
It's an absolutely huge space
to be seen and felt, composed,
read. Listen to the popular
street poetry or get chummy
with the poets themselves. Are
you a devotee of Father Ciço?
There, you will be among tens
of thousands of other devotees
because everyone at the street
market is! Depending on the
season of the year, the Caruaru
fair even offers instant flashflood-rainstorms,
water falling from the sky,
a miracle, a great miracle,
to contrast with the scalding
year-round.century-round sun.
How fascinating, beautiful and
delicious is the Caruaru fair!
