it was ruralization, the process in which the wild lands were tamed and settled during the colonial period, that gave rise to folkloric production as it is currently known in brazil.

the dispersed nature of settlements, and the people within them, necessitated a system of transferring knowledge in diverse disciplines - pottery, knitting and cooking, amongst others - and the gradations of apprentice, practitioner and master arose to fill this need.

in rural and underdeveloped areas of urban brazil, this tradition continued unabated and mostly unnoticed, until the romantic movement of the late 19th century focused attention on the popular roots of the cultural norms of the newly emergent brazilian society.