Intangible cultural heritage and sacred landscape in the Maypole celebration on the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast

Abstract

The article addresses the historical, social and cultural context of the Maypole celebration as an intangible cultural manifestation of the Afro-descendant Creole people on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. The annual Maypole festival is examined from a new perspective that includes the gender approach in its cosmological origins and possible influences of cultural traditions and interethnic relations, thus contributing to the construction of an identity specific to the coastal population. The article presents the foundations of an ethnography, the first phase of which is detailed here, while a second phase is planned to include a complementary audiovisual product.

The research was carried out within the framework of a doctoral stay funded by the Erasmus+ Americampus Program of the European Union, in collaboration between the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast (URACCAN) and the University of Extremadura (UEX). It took place in the city of Bluefields between March and May 2022, before and during the Maypole celebration. The Nurture and Cultivation of Wisdoms and Knowledges (CCRISAC) methodology was used, promoted by the Network of Indigenous, Intercultural and Community Universities of Abya Yala (RUIICAY). As a significant conclusion, the importance of this intercultural research and dialogue of knowledge is highlighted to show how the cycle of ritual and socio-cultural updating that involves the Maypole as an expression of the intangible heritage of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua occurs.