CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE — PIERSON 



timate, intense, sentimental, relatively complete 

 and permanent and an end in themselves. In- 

 dividuals tend to meet one another at most, if not 

 all, points in their lives and intimately to share 

 each other's experiences. Customs ordinarily 

 have the weight of many years of repetition be- 

 hind them ; they are relatively uniform and crys- 

 tallized into patterns known and, in general, ac- 

 cepted by all members of the community. The 

 number of Alternatives, in the sense in which Lin- 

 ton has used that concept, is limited (Linton, 1936, 

 pp. 273-275). The culture thus has a high de- 

 gree of equilibrium and stability and channels 

 pretty largely the habits of all individuals. It 

 is handed on from generation to generation prin- 

 cipally by way of spoken language and other sim- 

 ple gestures. 



Consequently, one finds here a relatively high 

 degree of social solidarity and stability and a cor- 



responding minimum of social change. The so- 

 ciety, the culture, and the personalities whose in- 

 teiaction constitutes the society and not only is 

 conditioned by the culture but also produces it, are 

 i-elatively well integrated. As is therefore to be 

 expected, indices of social disorganization are al- 

 most lacking, there is a maximum of personal ac- 

 commodation, a minimum of change in the habits 

 of the individual during his lifetime and conse- 

 quently a minimum of individualization and per- 

 sonal disorganization. Although these general 

 statements not only will be elaborated but also, 

 quite necessarily, consideraibly qualified in the 

 course of this account, it may be said that we are 

 dealing here with a society which is predominantly 

 characterized by primary relations, a still largely 

 folk culture, and personalities ordinarily well in- 

 tegrated. 



ROOTS IN THE PAST 



An account of the past in this community can 

 be given only, with any adequacy, after a thorough 

 sifting by historians and other scholars, of the 

 documentary evidence available in Brazilian and 

 Portuguese archives. Some of this arduous labor 

 has already been undertaken by Brazilian writers. 

 Interest has been centered, however, at least 

 so far as this area is concerned, either in the 

 biography of famed personages or the details of 

 governmental or ecclesiastical administration. It 

 is to be hoped that the comparatively recent shift 

 in attention among Brazilian scholars — a shift evi- 

 dent in varying degrees in the work of such men 

 as Capistrano de Abreu, Pandia Calogeras, Gil- 

 bert© Freyre, Roberto Simonsen, Caio Prado 

 Junior, Affonso de E. Taunay and Sergio Buarque 

 de Hollanda— will afford in the near future a more 

 adequate understanding of the underlying eco- 

 logical, economic, and sociological processes 

 throughout Brazilian history, of which the per- 

 sonages involved are the symbols and instruments. 



In the course of this study, available published 

 materials were consulted and as much time and 

 energy as possible also were given to looking over 

 ecclesiastical and governmental documents in local 



depositories.^ At least the general outline of the 

 past in this area seems to be clear. 



The present population is derived from Indian, 

 European, and African sources, extensively mixed 

 together. Tlie earliest inhabitants of whom we 

 have record were the Guayana and the Carijo. 

 They are known to have been in the region at the 

 time the first Portuguese found their way up from 

 the coast on to the "plains of Piratininga" where 

 the city of Sao Paulo was founded. It is probable 

 that one or both of these groups hunted, fished, 

 and perhaps had small clearings for planting in 

 the precise area imder study. Stone implements, 

 evidently once used by Indian inhabitants, are oc- 

 casionally found in the community.'' Place names 

 are predominantly from the language the Carijo 

 spoke. 



Carijo is the name by which the Guarani were 

 first known to Europeans (Metraux, 1948, p. 69). 



2 Some of the records of this area probably were destroyed in 

 a fire which occurred in the Camara Episcopal of SSo Paulo in 

 1880. 



' Due to the belief, however, that these objects are pedraa de 

 raio (literally, "stones from the lightning"), they are feared by 

 the inhabitants and, upon being found, are usually taken immedi- 

 ately and thrown into the river or a nearby creek. Rarely does 

 one of these implements come into the hands of someone who 

 understands its origin and preserves it. (See fig. 1.) 



