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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



of the village, which is held annually on, or near, 

 September 28. It was made this year on Septem- 

 ber 20 ; last year, on September 15. 



On the appointed day this year, families from 

 nearby farms came into the village to join the 

 villagers who were making the pilgrimage so that 

 they might go together. When all had arrived, 

 they set out on the road. The older persons went 

 by truck. The others were on foot or on horse- 

 back. There were about 60 people in the group, 

 35 of whom were women and girls. Wlien the 

 pilgrims finally came to the edge of the town of 

 Pirapora, they paused to form into a procession, 

 with the padre at the head, before proceeding on 

 into the town and up to the church of Sao Bom 

 Jesus de Pirapora. Entering the sanctuary, they 

 filed in a single line past the image, pausing to 

 kiss the feet or the hem of the cloak and to drop 

 esmolas (alms) into the coffer nearby. 



Approximately a third of the group, princi- 

 pally women and girls, then remained in the 

 church for a reBa and several were confessed by 

 the attending priest. Most of the men and boys, 

 however, left the church to walk about the town, 

 to drink with their friends in the iotequins, or to 

 form groups of conversation on street corners and 

 at the principal stores where they remained until 

 late into the night. 



The following morning, the group attended 

 early Mass and several took communion. Most 

 of the forenoon was spent in and about the church, 

 in praj'er or conversation. After lunch, the pil- 

 grims again formed into procession and left as 

 they had entered the previous day. On the out- 

 skirts of the town, the procession was disbanded 

 and the pilgrims set out on their homeward way. 

 Upon their arrival at the edge of the village, a 

 procession was again formed, called the ^''chegada 

 da 7'omaria''' (arrival of the band of pilgrims) and, 

 led by the priest, the pilgrims proceeded into the 

 church for brief prayers. 



The following lemarks of young men who par- 

 ticipated in the pilgrimage reveal at least some 

 of the attitudes of the local inhabitants who made 

 the journey : 



We didn't go to Pirajwra to hare a good time or even 

 just to take a trip. The pilgrimage is a penance; it's a 

 sacrifice we gladly make. 



It's a real sacrifice to go that distance on foot. We 

 went to ask Senhor Bom Jesus de Pirapora to help us 



with our difliculties and also to thank him for the benefits ' 

 we had received during the past j'ear. 



A pilgrimage is a devotion. It should be made with 

 faith. Most jyeople walk; and those who go in trucks, 

 ride standing up so as to make the penance greater. 



The most diflJcult part was to go on foot all that dis- 

 tance. But it wasn't so bad. As we came into Pirapora, 

 we all sang together and repeated prayers. 



If anybody goes on a pilgrimage just to have a good 

 time, he should stay at home. A pilgrimage Is a i)enance, 

 not an entertainment. 



In November of the present year (1948), a pil- 

 grimage was made for the first time to the shrine 

 of the patron saint of Brazil, Nossa Senhora da 

 Aparecida, located in the town of Aparecida do 

 Norte, approximately 180 miles away, near the 

 border of the State. Thirty-two persons made 

 the journey, 15 of whom were men. Travel was in 

 one of the two busses owned by the men in the 

 community who had recently organized the local 

 bus line. The group was away from the village 

 3 days. "Many of us had made pro7nessas to Nossa 

 Senhora da Aparecida," remarked a villager. "We 

 got to talking it over and we all agreed to go 

 together at the same time." 



EVANGELISTAS 



During the period in which the community was 

 under observation, a few members of a Protestant 

 sect, the Igreja de Deus (Church of God), began 

 coming each Sunday from Sao Paulo to hold a 

 public ceremony in a room which they rented in a 

 house in the village. For several Sundays, no local 

 resident joined the two or three visitors from the 

 city. Finally, however, a villager, whose curios- 

 ity had been aroused by the hymns he had heard 

 being sung, "went in to see what it was all about." 

 Three men, each around 30 yeai's of age, were 

 standing in front of a few empty benches and 

 singing, without accompaniment. After the 

 hymn, one of the men read, in Portuguese, a pas- 

 sage from the Bible, following which another man 

 spoke for several minutes regarding the necessity 

 of "walking in the straight and narrow way, the 

 way of suffering and pain, that leads to salvation." 

 "The broad highway of pleasure," he continued, 

 "may give the body happiness but it destroys the 

 soul." Subsequently, the three men knelt while 

 one prayed for a considerable length of time, ask- 

 ing the blessing of God "upon the work (of estab- 

 lishing the new sect in the community)." The 

 villager was impressed with the earnestness and 



