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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



the fodre. Should the family also be giving a 

 festa in honor of the santo in question, as occurred 

 recently with reference to Santo Antonio, the mem- 

 bers of the family, together with their relatives and 

 friends, may form a procession to carry the image 

 back to the house. The image is then placed in an 

 oratorio which usually is located in the principal 

 room but sometimes is in the bedroom. Nearly all 

 the oratorios are of wood, relatively small and 

 crudely made. Rarely is one as pretentious as that 

 in the house of a villager, which "was carved with 

 a penknife, in the time of the Jesuits." "' It stands 

 about 5 feet high and is 2 feet wide and 14 inches 

 deep. The form of the front portion is rectangular 

 while, at the back, the upper part is semicircular 

 in shape. The lower half of the inside walls is 

 covered with flowered paper and the upper half 

 with silk, on which the figure of a dove has been 

 embroidered to represent the Divino Espirito 

 Santo. On a raised platform is a small image of 

 Sao Joao and three images of doves. Two bouquets 

 of artificial flowers, white and rose-colored, are 

 also on the altar. 



More commonly, however, house oratorios are 

 similar to that in the farm home of Seu Antonio. 

 Built many years ago by a neighbor who was handy 

 with tools, it has the form of a small house about 

 20 inches high, 10 inches wide, and 6 inches deep. 

 It is made of wood, unpainted and darkened with 

 age. The front wall is composed of two doors on 

 hinges, held shut by a small wooden clasp which 

 turns on a nail. Crowning the roof is a small 

 cross set into the wood. Inside the oratorio are 

 images of Nossa Senhora da Aparecida, Sao 

 Gongalo, and Sao Bom Jesus de Pirapora. In a 

 wooden frame about 6 by 4 inches, set on a table 

 in front of the oratorio, is a photograph of 

 Antoninho Marmo. In this house, as often occurs, 

 the oratorio is attached to the wall; in about an 

 equal number of cases, however, it is placed on a 

 small table. 



Candles are burned in front of the images at 

 regular intervals, as well as on special occasions. 

 Many families, if unable to attend Mass, light a 

 candle at the hour it is being held. Some families 



burn one every Monday. A candle may also be 

 lighted upon the occasion of making a promessa.^^ 

 Some families used to press oil from castor-beans 

 to burn for this purpose. A wick was made of 

 cotton and placed, together with the oil, in a small 

 vessel. 



Formerly, in some families, the faces of the 

 images were covered "against anj' evil deed done 

 by a member of the household." "My mother," 

 remarked the wife of a village official, "would 

 always cover up the oratorio when one of us chil- 

 dren had done something we should not have done. 

 She would say, 'The santos don't want to see you 

 today. You have been very bad.' " 



Although an image may be hung from the bed 

 of a child or other unmarried person, it must never 

 be hung from the bed in which a man and a woman 

 sleep. '■^Nuin presto''' (It will bring evil effects 

 of a magical character), say local inhabitants. 

 "They will have bad luck. Nothing will go right." 

 The image may be kept in the bedroom, however, 

 if placed in an oratorio or on a small shelf attached 

 to the wall. 



As has been indicated, one often sees colored 

 lithogi'aphs of santos on the walls of local houses. 

 At several farm homes visited, for example, the 

 following lithographs were observed: 



Farm 1. — On the wall of the front room : Nossa Senhora 

 do Rosarlo, Sao Bom Jesus de Pirapora, Sao Roque, Sao 

 Joao, Sao Norberto, Nossa Senhora do Bom Parto, Santo 

 Antonio, Nossa Senhora da Aparecida, Nossa Senhora da 

 Guia, Sao Benedito, Nossa Senhora do Monte Serrat and 

 Jesus on the Cross. On another wall : Nossa Senhora dos 

 Rem6dios/°» 



Farm 2. — On the wall of the front room : Sao Bento, 

 Santa Barbara, Nossa Senhora do Bora Parto, Sao Jos6, 

 Santa Luzia, Santa Catarina ; together with a hand of 

 Jesus, showing wounds. 



Farm S. — On the wall of the front room : Sao Bom 

 Jesus de Pirapora, Sao Bom Jesus de Iguape, Nossa 

 Senhora da Aparecida, Mary with the infant Jesus in her 

 arms. 



Farm Jf.' — On a wall : Sao Bom Jesus de Pirapora, Santo 

 Antonio, Nossa Senhora da Conceigao, and Antoninho 

 Marmo. 



Farm 5. — On a wall of the front room : Nossa Senhora 

 das Dores, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sacred 

 Heart of Mary. 



The santos are ordinarily thought of as possess- 

 ing human feelings and sentiments. Sao Benedito, 



"' A local expression which is used rather loosely and, in fact, 

 means merely, "long ago." As previously indicated, the Jesuits 

 owned a farm in the community in the eighteenth century. (See 

 Roots in the Past, p. 9.) 



^^ See Promessas, p. 173. 



"" "When my granddaughter was ill," said the grandmother, "I 

 made a promessa to get a Nossa Senhora dos Remedies if she got 

 well." 



