The Batizado is an annual ceremony we have to welcome our new students officially into the group. The term “batizado” originates in capoeira regional (the style of capoeira we play). Mestre Bimba coined the term, however, it is very different now from what the original ceremony once was. For Mestre Bimba, it was simply the first time a new student played with a more advanced student. For us, and the majority of regional styled groups, it has become a large annual event that usually involves visiting groups and multiple mestres. The term is the same, but the ceremony itself is completely different.
During our ceremony the “new” student plays with a graduated student, or mestre, who takes them down to the ground (carefully ;p). This is the “baptism.” It is symbolic of the student starting from the ground up. You may not actually be taken all the way down to the ground, but rather just shown by the advanced student that they have complete control of the game...which they do no matter how sneaky you think you are being...For myself, I was not actually taken down, but rather had a kick marked on my chest. The reason I put new in quotation marks because someone could be training for years before they actually get baptized or they may have just started. One thing to take away from our batizados is that not only is the baptism a symbol of starting from the ground up, but a way for us to show our students that they are part of our community. It is the job of the graduated student to take care of the newer student. The graduated student may do floreios during their games with the beginner, but the real point of the baptism game is to show the new student that they are respected and will be nurtured by their peers to develop into a better capoeirista. The baptism is not there to show that one person is better than the other, it is meant to be inspirational for the beginner, and show them that is a lot to learn and they have people they can trust to help them on their way.
The second part is called the “Troca de Cordas,” literally translated means, “changing of belts.” We recently posted our Minnesota Capoeira Academy Cord Guidelines and Monitora Vespa wrote a really great post about what belts represent. Please check out that blog post for more information on promotions. http://www.mncapoeira.org/blog/archives/01-2018.
As for the ceremony itself, we are changing things up a little bit. We want to make the ceremony our own, and not what we have always done in the past. We want the ceremony to match up more with who we are as a group. We will talk more about this in class… suffice it to say we will be trying to make it so there is less sitting and more playing and more fun for everyone kids and adults alike!!!
During our ceremony the “new” student plays with a graduated student, or mestre, who takes them down to the ground (carefully ;p). This is the “baptism.” It is symbolic of the student starting from the ground up. You may not actually be taken all the way down to the ground, but rather just shown by the advanced student that they have complete control of the game...which they do no matter how sneaky you think you are being...For myself, I was not actually taken down, but rather had a kick marked on my chest. The reason I put new in quotation marks because someone could be training for years before they actually get baptized or they may have just started. One thing to take away from our batizados is that not only is the baptism a symbol of starting from the ground up, but a way for us to show our students that they are part of our community. It is the job of the graduated student to take care of the newer student. The graduated student may do floreios during their games with the beginner, but the real point of the baptism game is to show the new student that they are respected and will be nurtured by their peers to develop into a better capoeirista. The baptism is not there to show that one person is better than the other, it is meant to be inspirational for the beginner, and show them that is a lot to learn and they have people they can trust to help them on their way.
The second part is called the “Troca de Cordas,” literally translated means, “changing of belts.” We recently posted our Minnesota Capoeira Academy Cord Guidelines and Monitora Vespa wrote a really great post about what belts represent. Please check out that blog post for more information on promotions. http://www.mncapoeira.org/blog/archives/01-2018.
As for the ceremony itself, we are changing things up a little bit. We want to make the ceremony our own, and not what we have always done in the past. We want the ceremony to match up more with who we are as a group. We will talk more about this in class… suffice it to say we will be trying to make it so there is less sitting and more playing and more fun for everyone kids and adults alike!!!
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