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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



A truck brought several families from Sao Jose 

 dos Patos. The church was packed with persons 

 praying. 



At 9 o'clock, the procession began to form. Two 

 long lines of women stretched up the village street. 

 After them, the band took up its position, followed 

 by the fadre, a girl representing Veronica, and 

 the two assistants of the padre. The image of 

 Jesus lying in death came next, carried by six men. 

 Over it was a canopy, held up by several other 

 men. Beliind the image, a large number of men 

 gathered. 



Just as the procession was about to set out, the 

 girl representing Veronica climbed up on a chair 

 and sang a verse from a funeral hymn. As she 

 sang, she unrolled a scroll on which was printed 

 an image of the head of Jesus, and showed it to 

 the assembled people. Wlien she had ended the 

 verse, a chorus of women's voices repeated it, while 

 the girl again unrolled the scroll and showed the 

 head of Jesus to the crowd. Then she stepped 

 down from the chair, the band began to play a 

 funeral march and the procession set out. It 

 wound its way slowly through all the streets of 

 the village before returning to the church. Seven 

 times the marchers stopped, "to symbolize the 

 seven times that Jesus fell with the cross as he went 

 up Calvary and also the seven weeks of Lent of 

 which Holy Week is the last." Each time the pro- 

 cession stopped, the girl representing Veronica 

 sang. Between 1,000 and 1,100 persons were pres- 

 ent. Attitudes of reverence and respect were re- 

 flected in every face, without exception. Whenever 

 the girl sang, the silence was so great that she 

 could be heard all over the village. 



At the door of the church, the girl sang for the 

 seventh time, after which the padre delivered a 

 sermon in which he spoke of Jesus' burial. Once, 

 during his remarks, he pointed directly at the im- 

 age of Jesus in death and said, dramatically, "It 

 was we who killed Him with our sins." After the 

 sermon, the procession entered the church and a 

 reza was held, while the people formed in line and 

 filed past the image of Jesus in death. 



At 8 o'clock the following morning, a "Mass of 

 Aleluia''' was celebrated and at 10 o'clock the 

 church bells, which had not rung since Sunday 

 broke their long silence in "joyous" peals. That 

 afternoon, an accordion was heard in the praga 

 and, a little later, a chorinho formed, consisting 



of nine young men with an accordion, a violao, 

 and several cavaquinhos and tamborines. The 

 young men began to play in front of one of the 

 stores. At 9 o'clock that night, a dance was held 

 at a village home. A large number of persons was 

 present and the dancing continued until long after 

 midnight. 



At 5 o'clock the following morning, which was 

 that of Easter Sunday, the village was awakened 

 by the ringing of the church bells to call wor- 

 shipers to the resa which would precede the 

 "Procession of the Second Meeting." It was not 

 long before 200 persons had gathered at the church 

 and more were an-iving continually. At six 

 o'clock, with the bells again ringing and the 

 village band playing a lively march, the procession 

 set out. The participants had taken up their 

 positions as on the previous Sunday: the women 

 in one line, facing toward the Rua da Penha; the 

 men in another line, at right angles, facing toward 

 the praga. At the head of the men was the padre. 

 Four of the men were carrying an image of Jesus ; 

 four of the women, an image of Mary. As they 

 set out, the men sang hymns referring to Jesus; 

 the women hymns referring to Mary. The two 

 lines followed the same route as previously, the 

 men moving through the praga and the women up 

 the Rua de Penha, and again meeting midway on 

 their respective journeys around the village. The 

 padre then spoke briefly regarding the meeting of 

 Mary and Jesus after the Resurrection, the people 

 listening with a show of great reverence and re- 

 spect. After the padre had finished speaking, the 

 column of men joined that of the women and the 

 images were brought back, side by side, to the 

 church. At 10 o'clock, a Mass was held, following 

 which the church remained filled for a long time 

 with persons praying. 



The festa of Nossa Senhora da Piedade, given 

 for the patron santa of the village, is held annually 

 on, or near, September 28. It is preceded by a 

 novena, consisting of nine rezas, held on consecu- 

 tive evenings. This year, on the evening preceding 

 the festa, rockets were set off and the village band, 

 which had practiced every evening during the 

 preceding week, played several marches. A dance, 

 held at the home of a villager, added to the festivi- 

 ties. About a hundred persons were present and 

 dancing continued until long past midnight. 



