The Cavalhada of Santo Amaro de Campos as an Expression of Rural Identity and a Manifestation of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Abstract This article analyzes the Cavalhada of Santo Amaro de Campos, held during the festivities honoring Saint Amaro in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The study draws on participant observation conducted in January 2025, documentary and historical sources, digital records, photographic documentation, and Gisele Gonçalves’s ethnographic research on the festivity. Drawing on Maurice Halbwachs’s concept of collective memory, Reginaldo Gonçalves’s understanding of heritage as a category of thought, and the concept of Historical Anthropophagy, the article argues that the Cavalhada should not be interpreted merely as the survival of a medieval Iberian tradition. Instead, it constitutes a contemporary religious and cultural manifestation in which Catholic devotion, rural identity, and collective memory are continuously recreated through local social practices. The article further contends that the meanings attributed to the Cavalhada arise from the historical experience of the local community, challenging interpretations that privilege historical continuity over cultural resignification. By combining ethnography, documentary analysis, photographic analysis, and theoretical reflection, the study contributes to debates on religious festivities, intangible cultural heritage, and the social production of collective memory in contemporary Brazil.