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!
