■CRUZ DAS ALMA&: A BRAZILIAN VILLAGE' — ^PIERSON 



139 



years old and a woman of 29, both of whom are 

 from the neighboring town of Boa Vista, are both 

 leparated from their respective spouses. A man, 

 32 years old, recently began living with a woman 

 of 28, after being deserted by his wife, no longer 

 living in the community. 



On a farm outside the village, an elderly wid- 

 ower has lived for IS years amigado with a young 

 woman. "She is a very good woman," said a mar- 

 ried granddaughter of the man; "she lives only 

 with him. They did not marry, because to do so the 

 family estate would have to be settled up and that 

 'would cost too much. He says they are getting 

 along all right as it is." 



To live amigado is not generally considered to 

 be proper conduct. "(9 fovo fala (people talk 

 about it)," said a villager. "It is feio (ugly)." 

 Disapproval, however, is usually of a mild char- 

 acter; and, if the partners are otherwise thought 

 to be gente hoa (good people), the lapse in this re- 

 spect is usually tolerated, if not completely over- 

 looked. In cases where a man or a woman has 

 been deserted by a spouse, and especially if chil- 

 dren have been left behind, the subsequent 

 amigagao of the injured partner, since there is no 

 divorce in Brazil, is considered an understandable 

 arrangement. "He liked her," said a young man 

 referring to a couple who came to live together 

 under these circumstances, "and he couldn't marry 

 her ; so he amigou-se." 



Eeproval, however, occasionally is voiced in a 

 rather decided manner. The parents of a man 

 whose wife had left him some 4 years before and 

 who was about to become ainigado with a young 

 girl, agreed to the latter's request that a dinner be 

 given to celebrate the occasion. It was to be held 

 at the home of the man's parents on the evening of 

 the couple's taking up residence together. The 

 dinner was not held, however, apparently owing 

 to disapproval expressed by relatives and acquaint- 

 ances of the family. A young man was heard to 

 say, in this connection, "For a man or a woman to 

 be amigado is not good." 



The local registrar of vital statistics brings tact- 

 ful pressure upon persons who are living amigado 

 to marry legally. To a young man who came in to 

 register the birth of a child after living for 2 years 

 a/migado with a young woman, the registrar said, 

 "You should get married. If someone speaks of 

 your amiga then, you can call her your wife." 



"That is good," replied the young father, "I'll see 

 what can be done." "I also tell them," the regis- 

 trar says, "it'll be easier to recognize their children 

 before the law. If they don't get married, the 

 cost in stamps and other charges will be over 100 

 cruzeiros for every child; and it only costs 120 

 cruzeiros to get married and then all their children 

 will be legitimate and they won't have to go 

 through all the trouble of recognizing each one. 

 Some of these young folks are awfully ignorant 

 about these things." 



"NATURAL CHILDREN" 



Children born out of wedlock are referred to 

 locally as filhos naturais ("natural children"). 

 The niunber in the community is negligible. 



The rather general attitude toward "natural 

 children," however, is perhaps best reflected in a 

 remark made by a young married man in the vil- 

 lage, who said, "Every child is a natural child, 

 is it not ? How is it possible to have a child that 

 isn't natural f The general tendency is to look 

 upon the procreative process as a normal process ; 

 to accept certain restraints on sexual behavior in 

 keeping with conventional patterns but also to be 

 quite tolerant if these restraints are occasionally 

 ineffective. The illegitimate child himself suf- 

 fers no stigma. His illegitimacy is considered, 

 rather logically, to be beyond his control and 

 responsibility. 



Censure falls entirely upon the mother. If, 

 however, a marriage is arranged with the father 

 of the child, especially before the child's birth, 

 the lapse from sanctioned conduct tends to be 

 overlooked and, with the passage of time, forgot- 

 ten. Its recall rarely occurs except in conflict 

 situations when someone seeks to muster all the 

 damaging evidence possible to slander the object 

 of his wrath. 



The present attitude toward illegitimacy prob- 

 ably reflects imported Portuguese mores, reen- 

 forced by African and Indian cultural heritages, 

 together with the circumstances of colonial settle- 

 ment in Brazil (Freyre, 1943; Pierson, 1942). 

 Moreover, it has long been supported in Brazil by 

 the inconsistency in the definition of illegitimacy 

 as given by the state, on the one hand, and the 

 church on the other. The state does not recog- 

 nize marriage when performed only under ecclesi- 

 astical sanction, officially considering illegitimate 



