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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 12 



all you knew before is useless ! It is the teaching of God 

 which enliglitens the people. My dear brethren, it is the 

 hour of resolution ! Listen to the call of Our Lord Jesus ! 

 Now the brothers will change their clothing in the tent 

 there and the sisters in the tent over here. Afterwards, 

 we will all return and give thanks to the Lord. The water 

 is waiting. Let us save ourselves today, for tomorrow 

 it may be too late ! Who knows if he will be alive tomorrow 

 or not? Since the beginning of the world, God has pre- 

 pared the way and the judgment of men. It is easy to 

 recognize anyone who does not follow God's command- 

 ments, for he shows his condemnation in his face. In it 

 are traces of sin and bitterness. But he who is right with 

 God has peace of mind, and his assurance and tranquillity 

 are written all over his face. 



Throughout these remarks, the elder was heard 

 with interest and respect. The visitors stood bare- 

 headed in the hot midday sun. From time to time, 

 a person, or several persons together, called out 

 "Aleluia ! Aleluia !" in such tones as clearly to in- 

 dicate that the sentiments voiced by the speaker 

 were identified in a profound way with his own. 

 Subsequently, several adults were baptized by the 

 elder, who was assisted by another member of the 

 sect (pi. 17, h). 



As has been indicated, the ceremony evoked 

 widespread interest in the village and surrounding 

 area. Most persons were merely curious. "I and 

 my two sisters," said a young married woman on 

 the following day, "all went to the baptizing. We 

 didn't go because we wanted to become Evan- 

 gelistas. Oh, no ! We went because we'd heard 

 that they take people down into the water and we 

 wanted to see what it was like. I suppose we 

 shouldn't have gone because those people don't 

 come to our baptizings ; instead, they make light of 

 them." Some persons were amused and spoke 

 jocularly of the event. "I liked it a lot," said a 

 16-year-old girl. "It was great fun to watch 

 them put people under the water like that." "They 

 tell me," remarked an elderly farmer, who had not 

 been present at the ceremony, "that these people 

 were taken into the creek and doused in the water. 

 With this heat, that isn't such a bad thing." A 

 few persons were sharply critical. "They say 

 when you're baptized like that," a young man re- 

 marked, "you are born again. Do you suppose 

 that fellow there (a man 55 years of age, who had 

 just been baptized) has gone into his mother and 

 come out again?" "I think this thing of putting 

 you under the water so your sins will fall to the 

 bottom," said another young man, "is a lot of fool- 



ishness." "If I'd been one of those women being 

 put under the water, with pants on and only to 

 the knees" said a young woman, referring to the 

 use of bloomers by the women being baptized, "I'd 

 have died of shame." "You wouldn't get me to go 

 into the water like that," said a girl, "I wouldn't 

 risk getting mud all over me and maybe swallow a 

 lot of water." Other persons, however, were im- 

 pressed. "I liked the baptism," said a young 

 woman, 18 years old. "There were so many people 

 I could hardly see. And they were all so reverent 

 and respectful. Those people really have faith." 



Into a comminiity where for many generations 

 only Catholic ritual, ceremony, and belief had been 

 known, the comparatively recent coming of these 

 new and strange sects obviously has introduced a 

 measure of conflict. Among local inhabitants, at- 

 titudes with reference to the EvangeUstas vary 

 from opposition to tolerance to a willingness to 

 accept as one's own these new practices and beliefs. 



Most persons are opposed. "These people," said 

 a middle-aged villager, "are all insane." "None 

 of them knows how to read," said a farmer. "They 

 don't even know how to talk. And then they want 

 to tell other people how they should behave. 

 That's a funny kind of people." "Did you hear 

 about that awful disaster in Minas?" asked a 

 woman in the village, referring to a flood in a 

 neighboring state, about which she had heard. 

 "Many people died. A whole town was destroyed. 

 That's the punishment of God. It's because of the 

 Evangelist as. Thej' abuse religion and God pun- 

 ishes for it." "Their religion may be all right," 

 said a young farmer, "but so far as I am concerned 

 it isn't worth a tostdoP '^'^ 



"Look !" said a young farm woman. "A mother 

 gives you your life, doesn't she? It was she who 

 had all the trouble of raising you. When you 

 grow up, are you evil enough to say, 'That isn't 

 my motlier ; she's just some old woman ?' Every- 

 one born into this world has a mother. Even the 

 animals have mothers. Even trees. But they tell 

 me these EvangeUstas don't have a mother, nor a 

 father, nor a brother, nor a sister. They say they 

 must '■deny their mother, their father, their 

 brothers and their sisters' and cling only to God. 

 Besides, they think the Most Holy Mary is not the 

 Mother of Christ; that she's just a woman. And 



' .4. tenth part of a cruzeiro. See footnote 236. 



