172 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBUCATION NO. 1 2 



not yet left the village for their homes. All were 

 somewhat under the influence of the quentdo par- 

 taken of during the night. In the principal 

 hotequivi, the leader of the samba and several 

 other men were lying on the floor asleep. 



The '■'■dia das arma''' (all Souls Day) , on Novem- 

 ber 2, is also an important day in the village. 

 Early in the morning, families begin to gather in 

 and about the church to participate in the 9 o'clock 

 Mass for the "armcw." Following the Mass, a pro- 

 cession forms, led by the padre and two acolytes, 

 and goes slowly up the hill to the cemetery, as the 

 padre repeats, in Latin, prayers for the dead, and 

 those near him reply, from time to time, as he 

 pauses, in the manner in which they have learned 

 the words, '■''Miserere, miserere nobis et inisericor- 

 dia tuam?'' Wlien the procession reaches the ceme- 

 tery, all go directly to the small chapel inside, 

 where the padre addresses the people. On the last 

 occasion, he told his listeners that, after death, the 

 souls of those who had died without sin would go 

 to heaven, the souls of those who had died in "mor- 

 tal sin" would go to hell, and the souls of those who 

 had died in "venial sin" would go, temporarily, 

 to purgatory. He emphasized that only the souls 

 of those who had been "completely purified" could 

 ever expect to enter heaven. He then requested all 

 present to kneel and pray six times the Lord's 

 Prayer and six times the Gloria Patri for the bene- 

 fit of souls in purgatory. "If we pray as we 

 should," he continued, "each soul will have 300 

 days of indulgence." He said that the prajers 

 might be offered for the soul of any person, a 

 relative or a friend. He exhorted those present 

 to remember that one day they too would die and 

 that their penance in purgatory could be shortened 

 by the prayers of their relatives and friends. 

 Eeverently, with solemn faces, the persons present 

 then prayed the 12 prayers. Upon the childrens' 

 faces were unmistakable evidences of awe. 



Following the prayers, the padre went from 

 grave to grave fazendo recomendagoes especiais 

 (making special "recommendations") for persons 

 whose relatives or friends had requested special 

 prayers.^^ By 11 o'clock, the ceremony was over 

 and the padre had left the cemetery. From then 

 until late that night, however, family groups 

 which had not been able to be present at the cere- 



mony climbed the hill to the cemetery, carrying 

 flowers and candles, and went to the graves of 

 members of their family.-*' The flowers were laid 

 on the grave, and the candles stuck in the ground, 

 and lighted. Each person knelt briefly in silence 

 or bent the right knee while making the sign of 

 the cross. The group then went into the cemetery 

 chapel, where each person knelt and prayed a few 

 minutes in silence, after which a candle was 

 lighted for each deceased relative. Approxi- 

 mately 700 persons visited the cemetery during 

 the day. 



Until a few years ago, the ritual of the sete 

 passos (seven steps) constituted a part of this 

 ceremony. "I remember it well," said an older 

 resident. "The people, in a sort of jDrocession, 

 went to the village church, the chapel at the end 

 of the Street of the Pasture, the chapel in the 

 cemetery, and to roadside chapels until they had 

 'completed (visited) seven crosses.' Everyone 

 walked along quietly, as still as death. At each 

 cross he prayed fervently. No one looked behind 

 him because, if he did, he might see the armas 

 which were accompanj'ing the procession. E-e-e ! 

 How frightened I was of those rezas and the ar- 

 tnasP The ritual was repeated each Wednesday 

 and Friday night during Lent. Recalled a farmer : 



On the seven Fridays and seven Wednesdays of Lent 

 every year the men used to get together — the women could 

 have come along too, there was nothing against it, but 

 they never did — and went about making the recomenda- 

 Qoes das arma. They selected six crosses besides the one 

 at the gate of the cemetery. They went out at night. 

 They always carried a matraca.^' £-e-e ! It was an awful 

 thing! It would make everyone nervous. They went 

 along praying the recomendacoes das arma. The prayers 

 were to help the annas out — persons who had died at sea 

 or who had died and no one knew about it or who'd had 

 no Mass said for them, nothing. But it wasn't like ordi- 

 nary praying; it was the Lord's Prayer and the Hail 

 Mary, all right, but everyone drew out the words — Ou-r-r 

 Fa-a-a-th-th-er-r-r — in such a way that their voices 

 echoed all around. And banging that matraca, there at 

 night! It was an awful thing ! Tliey went around to the 



=8" The fee is 2 cruzeiros for each prayer. 



=" On the way to the vlUafre. some of the families had left a few 

 flowers and perhaps a lighted candle, at each wayside cross they 

 hail passed. 



2™ The matraca is a board about 16 inches long by 10 inches 

 wide, to one of whose sides two shorter pieces of wood are fastened 

 with hinges so as to fl.ap at will. The operator slips his fingers 

 through a slit in the upper part of the instrument and, twisting 

 his wrist baci; and fortli, causes the hinged pieces to flap against 

 the board with a sound lilje "pa-pa-pa-pa-pa." The matraca is 

 used especially during Holy Week, on days when the church 

 bells are not supposed to ring. 



