CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE' PIERSON 



133 



husband badly," said a villager, "he will see that 

 she leve a hreca (catches it) ." If the woman per- 

 forms her role as defined in the local mores, the 

 husband's prestige is increased. At the same 

 time, he is all the more expected to live up to 

 what is expected of him. "If a wife is a good 

 wife," remarked a village leader, "a man must be 

 a good man." 



The ordinarily submissive attitude of the 

 woman obviously makes for harmony in the home 

 and bickering and quarreling are rare. "In 16 

 years of married life," said a farm woman, "me 

 and my husband have never had a single quarrel." 

 "When one of them is good," remarked an elderly 

 woman in the village, "there'll be no quarreling, 

 even if the other is no account. If they fight, it's 

 because neither of them is any good." Some men 

 assume a reciprocal obligation in this respect. A 

 village leader remarked, for instance, "A hus- 

 band should also obey his wife. They should 

 agree on things." 



A casual relation with a prostitute is not con- 

 sidered to constitute infidelity in the man, a point 

 of view which is apparently acquiesced in, some- 

 times grudgingly, by the women. Emotional at- 

 tachment to a prostitute or other woman, however, 

 on the part of a married man, is frowned upon by 

 both men and women. "For a husband to leave 

 his wife," said an older man in the village and one 

 of its leaders, "and go running after loose women 

 is the same thing as for a hog to leave his maize and 

 go eat excrement." 



Attachments to women other than the wife, how- 

 ever, occasionally occur. A young woman recalls : 



My uncle Joao, the brother of my father, used to leave 

 his wife at home, get into a charrete,-"" come in to the 

 village, take this woman he liked so well and go driving 

 with her. She was a mulatto woman, married to a black 

 man. Her husband knew about it, but he didn't do any- 

 thing. He wasn't much good. The woman went out only 

 with my uncle. He gave her many jDresents : a coat that 

 cost ."JSO cruzeiros and a pair of glasses that cost 250. He 

 also gave his wife things; but if he'd give her a pair of 

 shoes worth 70 or 80 cruzeiros, he'd give the other woman 

 a pair worth 200. If he gave his wife cloth for a dress 

 that cost 15 cruzeiros a meter, he'd give the woman cloth 

 that cost double that. 



Occasionally the wife objects strongly to such 

 behavior on the part of the husband. The most 

 effective control, however, is exercised through his 



family and especially by way of his father. The 

 informant mentioned above continued: 



My aunt was always quarreling with my uncle about his 

 going to see this woman. Sometimes he'd get up out 

 of bed and go out and sleep in the corncrib or even in 

 the terreiro. But one day when he had gone to the house 

 of this woman, we got word that one of our relatives, the 

 wife of Sebastiao, was dying. We all went in to the 

 village to be with her. My uncle heard about our coming 

 and was afraid his wife might come in to the village and 

 he left in a hurry. My aunt did come in and as soon as 

 she got to the village she went to the house of this woman. 

 When she came up to the door, she shouted, "Tou whore, 

 you black woman, you shameless creature !" The other 

 woman replied, "I may be a whore, but I'm your husband's 

 whore. I may be a black woman, but I'm the woman of 

 a white man." My aunt shouted something back and then 

 went to the house of her mother-in-law and complained 

 about her husband. So her husband's father sent for his 

 son and he said to him, "Your sister is dying. Is this 

 the way you show sorrow for her? You should be 

 ashamed." 



The tendency, however, is to tolerate extra- 

 marital behavior in the husband, if discreetly car- 

 ried on. Divorce does not exist and separation 

 with mutual consent is extremely rare. Desertion, 

 although it occasionally occurs, is also under strong 

 negative sanction. A wife will usually accommo- 

 date herself to the situation rather than act in an 

 extreme way. She may overlook her husband's 

 infidelities. She is more liable to object to them 

 and let him know of her objection. In the end, 

 however, she usually comes to tolerate them, since 

 there is no alternative. This attitude is reflected 

 in the remark of a farm woman, herself happily 

 married, when she said, "A husband should re- 

 spect his wife and not let her or the children suffer 

 want. Whatever else he cares to do, that's his 

 affair; one ought not to mind too much." 



Extramarital experiences on the part of the 

 woman, however, are universally and implacably 

 condemned. The slightest suspicion is severely re- 

 proved and an overt act may lead to violence and 

 death. A farm woman of whom it is said, "She 

 doesn't care for her husband. If a man of quality 

 comes along, ela del,"' -^' is held in low regard by 

 both men and women in the community. 



The injured husband is expected to act immedi- 

 ately he discovers his wife's infidelity and any 

 violence he may show tends to be overlooked and 



I'm spu Tools and Other Equipment, p. 55. 



2" Literally, "She'll give;" local phrase for "have eexnal 



relations with." 



