CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE' — ^PIEESON 



219 



Dne of the suicides, however, was that of a man 

 vho had recently come to the village and hardly 

 lad begun to participate in the local society. It is 

 lot likely therefore that the disintegration of his 

 jersonality which resulted in the taking of his life 

 'eflects social disorganization in the local com- 

 nunity. In the case of the man who is reported 

 o have had hallucinations, it is probable that at 

 east some measure of insanity was involved, which 

 nay or may not have arisen out of social circum- 

 itances. One of the other men was a brother of the 

 laughters of the storekeeper, mentioned above, 

 (vhom villagers consider to be "queer," and his 

 luicide may thus liave been due more to biological 

 han to social circumstances. The excessive 

 ise of alcoholic drink, on the part of the last of 

 ;hese four men, as well as his vacillation in alle- 

 giance to contending sects, may peihaps indicate 

 nental disturbance which was due, at least in 

 part, to social circumstances. The degree of so- 

 cial disorganization which is reflected in these 



cases, however, especially when one also takes into 

 consideration the fact that these are the only 

 cases of suicide within the memory of local resi- 

 dents, would seem not to be very great. 



The beginnings of disintegration, in the case of 

 certain patterns of religious behavior, as revealed 

 in the decline of participation in the romarias, in 

 absence from Mass, confession, and communion, 

 and in the development of a limited amount of 

 skepticism with reference to Catholic belief, such 

 phenomena as the almas and assomhragoes and 

 the folk treatment of disease, indicate a certain 

 amount of loosening of the controls over the be- 

 havior of the individual. The extent of this 

 change, however, in comparison with the total 

 round of local belief, is relatively negligible. In 

 general, the local society is strong and vigorous 

 and, as the comparative absence of indices of per- 

 sonal disorganization indicates, no measurable de- 

 gree of social disorganization exists. 



