CYCLE AND INFORMATION FLOW IN COMMUNITY FESTIVALS

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to verify, from a social model of the information cycle as defined by Le Coadic, how information is produced, transmitted and used in community festivals. One of the objectives was to identify which elements are responsible for the channel that feeds the information flow of the ritual and what communication channels are used for broadcasting the event. The field research was carried out in rural communities settled by German immigrants in Estrela, a town in the Brazilian southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Interviews and participant observation were the methods used for data collection. The paper concludes that the information flow in community festivals is composed of a complex net of information which occurs dynamically among the various agents that attend the festivals. Both formal and informal communication channels are used for the dissemination of messages that are broadcast at the festivities.