Deboísmo

Brazilians love creating sensationalism. Although Brazil is a huge country, people are always talking about the same cultural novelties, which are disseminated by the national television and by the Internet. Today, to be “Zen” in Brazil is to be a Deboísta. I’ve heard the slang “de boa” since I was a kid (I was born in the 80s) which means: “to be in peace”, “to relax”, and I think the closest translation is the English expression “to chill”. We can say things like:

A: O que que você vai fazer hoje? = What are you doing today?
B: Hoje eu vou ficar de boa. = Today I’m just chilling.

Or:

A: Desculpa, eu tô atrasado. = Sorry, I’m late.
B: Ah, de boa. = Oh, no problem, relax.

So far this expression has been just an every day slang. But now, it became a religious organization called Deboísmo (de boa + ísmo). Yes! Some people took this idea seriously and made a Facebook page, which can be seen on: www.facebook.com/Deboismo

They call themselves ‘Deboístas’, and many other people are following them (including me!). In my opinion, this is the most ‘fun’ religion ever created. For any problem that comes up you just say: “de boa!” or “de boas!” and then you should just chill and that’s it, in theory, problem solved. Why should we worry about problems, life is full of ups and downs anyway, isn’t it?

And the best of all is that the ‘prophet’ is a sloth, in Portuguese, “bicho-preguiça” (literally: lazy animal). The prophet’s name is Deboas. The community sells t-shirts of him (merchandising, which reminds me of the classic film Spaceballs).

Below I have selected my favourite Deboism images and also images that can be helpful for learning Portuguese. Have a look down here and keep “de boas”!

Já tive dias de fúria, agora só quero ficar… DE BOAS.
(I had days of fury, now I just want to be…DE BOAS.)

Calma. É aos poucos que a vida vai dando certo.
Calm down. It’s slowly that life starts to settle down.

Nem melhor nem pior, de boas.
(Neither better nor worse, de boas.)

10 Mil Boais, Banco Central Deboísta
(10 Thousand Boais, Deboicist Central Bank)

One more thing about Deboísmo, there is a great Brazilian blog called A Fabulosa Casa Turquesa e Dourada which last year wrote a brilliant post called Feminismo Deboísta, (Deboicist Feminism) you can see this post on: https://afabulosacasaturquesaedourada.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/feminismo-deboista/

…de boas! 🙂