CRUZ DAS ALMAS' : A BRAZILIAN VILLAGE' — PIERSON 



141 



oil my head. 1 went to every festa; those here in the 

 village and those in other parts of the community. 1 

 would hire a pack mule, put everything on its back, and 

 go with the children. When I got there, I'd set up a 

 stand and sell my pfistries. I also owned a sewing ma- 

 chine with a foot pedal and did sewing for other women. 

 With the pastries and the sewing, I brought up all my 

 children. 



A few widows marry again. Usually they are 

 those who possess some property and who have 

 few, or no, children. "This woman keeps saying 

 she'll never marry again!" remarked a villager 

 of a widow with seven children. "That if she 

 went around with a lantern, she couldn't hope to 

 find a man as good as the husband who died. I 

 tell you she can look as long as she likes with that 

 lantern. Poor and with seven children, she'll 

 never find a man who'll marry her. If she had 

 3 alqueires of land, it is possible; and if she had 

 15 alqueires, it would be much easier." 



Those who have relatives living in the com- 

 munity, however, either of their own family or 

 that of her husband, usually receive as much as- 

 sistance as the relatives are able to offer. If 

 the widow happens to be without relatives in the 

 community, other villagers or farmers will from 

 time to time help take care of her most urgent 

 needs. "Someone will give one thing, someone 

 else another," said a villager. 



One widow, whose husband was a soldado, re- 

 ceives a government pension of 280 cruzeiros a 

 month. "But that isn't enough to live on these 

 days," she says, with evident truth. A few 

 widows make a precarious living washing clothes 

 for other families, acting as a midwife or, like the 

 widow cited above, sewing and making and selling 

 pastries. 



There are 16 widows living in the village. Nine 

 own their own homes. Two other widows, one of 

 whom is 91 years of age and the other 65, live 

 with a married son or daughter. Another widow, 

 40 years of age, lives with a married sister. Three 

 others live with unmarried but adult children : 

 one, aged 68, lives with her 25-year-old son in a 

 house for which they pay 20 cruzeiros a month 

 rent; a second, aged 62, lives with her 28-year-old 

 son in a house for which they pay 40 cruzieros 

 a month rent, the mother working regularly at 

 "toasting" maize flour in the mill of her son-in- 

 law on a sitio just outside the village; and the 

 third, aged 39, lives with her older sons, one of 



whom is 20 years of age and the other 18, both of 

 whom work as day laborers on farms in the com- 

 munity, and two younger sons, aged 11 and 9 years, 

 respectively. A widow, 40 years old, lives with 

 her mother, also a widow, who owns her own home. 



Of the 9 widows who own their own homes, one 

 is 30 years of age and lives alone with 7 children 

 from 11 years to 7 months old. A second is 64 

 years of age and lives with a 25-year-old son and 

 18-year-old daughter. She earns part of the liv- 

 ing by washing clothes in the nearby creek for 

 neighbor women. A third is 48 years of age and 

 is paralyzed. She is cared for by a family 

 which rents her house at the nominal rental of 10 

 cruzeiros a month. Another is 72 years of age 

 and lives with a 51-year-old son, himself a wid- 

 ower, a 35-year-old unmarried daughter, and a 

 17-year-old grandson. Another is 70 years of age 

 and shares her house with a married daughter 

 and her family. Another is 59 years of age 

 and makes a precarious living as a part-time pros- 

 titute, sharing her home with another part-time 

 prostitute and the latter's 3-year-old son. Two 

 other widows live alone, one of whom is 66 years 

 old and has a pension, as indicated above; the 

 other is 54 years of age and works occasionally at 

 light labor in the fields of nearby farms. Another 

 widow, 58 years of age, shares her home with a 

 21-year-old son and a widowed daughter 40 years 

 old, together with the latter's children, aged 22, 

 18, 15, 13, and 4 years, respectively. 



The following account by a widow in the village 

 reveals in an intimate way the attitude taken 

 toward the widow by other persons in the com- 

 munity : 



My husband died last year of tuberculosis. The year 

 before we had had a 0ne crop. We harvested 60 sacks 

 of rice. Our maize made a huge pile. And you should 

 have seen the potatoes we dug ! We had everything we 

 needed. A great plenty! And look at us now! Who 

 would have thought this would have happened to me. 

 I have seven children and no husband. It's difficult to 

 find any work I can do on a farm. I did have a sewing 

 machine, but I had to sell it. I also sold my husband's 

 garrucha!"'' 



Everyone helps me, though. My brother in the village 

 gives me a little money sometimes. My sister is a cook 

 in Piracema and she sends me something once in a while. 

 When I go to other people in the village, they are always 

 good to me. The children were needing clothes. A 



2« A double-barreled pistol. See Protection : the Faca de 

 Bainha and the Garrucha, p. 50. 



