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PARA 



pompous religious services in the churches. To those 

 who had witnessed similar ceremonies in the Southern 

 countries of Europe, there would be nothing remarkable 

 perhaps in these doings, except their taking place amidst 

 the splendours of tropical nature ; but to me they were 

 full of novelty, and were besides interesting as exhibiting 

 much that was peculiar in the manners of the people. 

 The festivals celebrate either the anniversaries of events 

 concerning saints, or those of the more important trans- 

 actions in the life of Christ. To them have been added, 

 since the Independence, many gala days connected with 

 events in the Brazilian national history ; but these have 

 all a semi-religious character. The holidays had become 

 so numerous, and interfered so much with trade and in- 

 dustry towards the year 1852, that the Brazilian Govern- 

 ment were obliged to reduce them ; obtaining the neces- 

 sary permission from Rome to abolish several which were 

 of minor importance. Many of those which have been 

 retained are declining in importance since the ^troduction 

 of railways and steam boats, and the increased devotion 

 of the people to commerce ; at the time of our arrival, 

 however, they were in full glory. The way they were 

 managed was in this fashion. A general manager or 

 ' Juiz ' for each festa was elected by lot every year in 

 the vestry of the church, and to him were handed over 

 all the paraphernalia pertaining to the particular festival 

 which he was chosen to manage ; the image of the saint, 

 the banners, silver crowns and so forth. He then em- 

 ployed a number of people to go the round of the parish 

 and collect alms, towards defraying the expenses. It 

 was considered that the greater the amount of money 

 spent in wax candles, fireworks, music and feasting, the 

 greater the honour done to the saint. If the Juiz was a 

 rich man, he seldom sent out alms-gatherers, but cele- 

 brated the whole affair at his own expense, which was 

 sometimes to the extent of several hundred pounds. 

 Each festival lasted nine days (a novena), and in many 

 cases refreshments for the public were provided every 

 evening. In the smaller towns a ball took place two or 

 three evenings during the novena, and on the last day 

 there was a grand dinner. The priest, of course, had to 

 be paid very liberally, especially for the sermon delivered 

 on the Saint' s-day or termination of the festival, sermons 

 being extra duty in Brazil. 



