Drawing on archival and ethnographic research conducted in São José do Belmonte, a rural community in the backlands of Pernambuco, this talk examines how grassroots initiatives linked to the Armorial Movement, a multifaceted artistic project spearheaded by playwright, novelist, and scholar Ariano Suassuna (1927–2014) have empowered residents of Belmonte to effect change through what political anthropologist James Holston terms insurgent citizenship. I explore how the Stone of the Kingdom Association has served as a site for the performance of citizenship by cultivating networks of belonging through participatory cultural activities, such as the Stone of the Kingdom Celebration. This event is an equestrian pilgrimage to Pedra do Reino, a historical site where, in 1838, a group of religious zealots, followers of Sebastianismo, a messianic ideology centered on the prophesied return of Dom Sebastião (1554–1578), King of Portugal, carried out a massacre in hopes of bringing about the monarch’s return. Taking the Stone of the Kingdom Celebration as a point of departure, I demonstrate how members of the Stone of the Kingdom Association embrace Suassuna’s Armorial universe as a means of performing cultural identity and citizenship, re-signifying the historic site of Pedra do Reino into a space of cultural and political significance.