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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



Several persons in the community who have 

 been identified with Catholic ritual and belief, 

 however, find themselves becoming somewhat un- 

 decided; hesitant to forsake the beliefs and prac- 

 tices of their forefathers, but more and more 

 drawn to the new cults. "Several of my neigh- 

 bors who used to be Catholics," said a farm woman, 

 "have become Evangelistas. They keep after me 

 to let them hold their cult in my house. But I'm 

 a Catholic and my parents were Catholics. 

 Sometimes we go to their Sunday School, though, 

 on Sundays. You don't have to become an Evan- 

 gelista to do that. And, besides, they're really 

 good people." Several other persons are not only 

 tolerant of the Evangelistas but also quite well 

 disposed toward them. "These Evangelistas are 

 very serious people," said a village official. "They 

 are all honest and hard working. That's a good 

 religion they have." "These people never give 

 you any trouble," remarked another village official, 

 upon the occasion of the baptismal ceremony re- 

 ferred to above. "A thousand of them could get 

 together, and there'd be no drinking or fighting; 

 not even a quarrel." "They baptize you only after 

 you're 12 years old," remarked a farm woman. 

 "By that time, you know what it's all about. You 

 can decide for yourself. That's much better." 

 "I've seen that religion straighten up several geiite 

 ruim ("bad" people)," remarked a villager. 

 "Take that man there who comes around some- 

 times on a striped horse to sell bananas. I used 

 to know him when he wasn't good for anything. 

 He'd strike his wife, he'd go around drinking 

 pinga everywhere he could. He'd come to the 

 hotequim and spend the day there when he should 

 have been working. Sometimes, when he started 

 back up the hill past my house to go home he'd be 

 so drunk that he'd let his horse run loose and 

 he'd stagger around, shouting, way into the night. 

 The dogs would bark at him. One night I took 

 pitj' on him. I caught his horse and took off the 

 saddle. Then I talked to him a bit and, when he 

 had quieted down, I put a mat in the terreiro ^^^ for 

 him to lie on. Now he's gone into this new re- 

 ligion and he's straightened up. He doesn't beat 

 his wife any more. He doesn't drink. He's a new 

 man. A religion that does that to you, can't be 



a bad religion." "These Evangelistas are gente 

 dereita^'' ^""^ said a farmer. "They are really seri- 

 ous-minded people." "The only defect they have," 

 remarked a village official, expressing a proscrip- 

 tion laid down in the local mores, "is that they 

 get to thinking they're better than other people 

 are." 



The range of attitudes toward the new sects is 

 further reflected in the following comments made 

 by other persons in the community : 



These people are always speakins against our santos. 

 They say they are of clay. But we need not be bothered 

 about that, because the santos will punish them. 



Most people around here don't pay much attention to all 

 this, but there are a few who have become Evangelistas. 

 We had a neighbor who changed his religion. He kept 

 coming over to my house and running down my religion, 

 trying to convert me, too. When he talked that way I 

 said I didn't like to discuss things I didn't understand ; 

 but he kept right on. I tried to be patient, but one day 

 I turned to him and said, "Gaspar, if you want to come to 

 my house, you may come ; but if you can't get along with- 

 out talking that foolishness, then don't come here any 

 more. You won't get anywhere with that silly talk." 

 After that, he didn't say anything more to me about 

 religion. 



The first time they came to the village, the Evangelistas 

 aroused everybody's curiosity. That was several years 

 ago. They arranged a room to preach their doctrine. 

 The room was full of people. Some booed, but others liked 

 what they had to say. But when one of the Evangelistas 

 began to speak against the Catholics and the padres, the 

 wife of Salvador got up and insulted both the man's reli- 

 gion and the man himself. The next Sunday there were 

 not so many people, and after that they kept on dwindling 

 away until there were none left. The first day, the 

 preacher had been happy because so many had come. 

 But when the number got smaller and smaller, he got 

 more and more angry and finally he said that he, too, would 

 put on a skirt so that all the people would come to hear 

 him. 



Anyone who is converted to this religion becomes a lit- 

 tle queer. He goes around singing. Whenever he stops 

 for a minute, he takes his Bible out of his pocket and 

 begins to read. It's easy to tell an Evangelista. If you 

 see a man taking along a Bible when he's going out to 

 work, you may be sure he belongs to that crowd. 



Some of those people even stop working just to read 

 the Bible and sing. That will never do ! 



The only people who turn to that religion are drunkards 

 and those who join it to rid themselves of some other vice. 



Any ignoramus, no matter whether he knows anything 

 or not. can be their preacher. They think he doesn't have 

 to study ; that the Holy Ghost will tell him what to say. 

 That's a queer kind of people ! 



'^ See Hygiene and Body Habits, p. 30. 



"^ Literally, "upright people.' 



