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Rural Religion in Chaves, Portugal |
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Geography
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General
Observations
If
in the larger towns of the district like Chaves there are few signs of
overt religiosity, it is in the villages that the “popular “religion
can be seen. Frowned upon
by the more conservative church, this spontaneous, independent
Catholicism is seen by many city dwellers as a form of pagan
superstition or magic. Ethnographers
and more open parish priests who sometimes have problems with their
urban hierarchy see it as evidence of a vigorous religious tradition.
In the words of one parish priest from the Barroso region, west
of Chaves, Lourenço Fontes, “popular religion is not historical; it
is more naturalistic, conserver of the positive values of the paganism
of the Neolithic farmer, values which the Christianity of the cities and
the official Church has substituted and fought against and destroyed as
much as it could. Rites,
cults, dances, animals, festive dates, dramas, processions, images,
flags, lights, branches, and costumes, all are symbols that popular
religiosity can not do without for its faith.
One of the great errors of the official religion of Vatican II
and of its liturgy is not to be popular, nor young, because it is not
sensorial, emotional, or symbolic.” (Fontes, p.32) Religiosity is a natural party of life in the region of the Barroso, west of Chaves. It is mixed with magic and superstition. The villager accepts as factual: God, the Devil, witches, seers, saints, and magic. These communities have been historically cut off, among high mountains, with no road north into Galicia until the last decade. They are small villages, without any form of industry, becoming more and more uninhabited, connected by narrow roads only today. There are few schools and when they exist education is precarious. According to Padre Fontes, the villager learned to sign his name and count, just to emigrate or get his driving license. “He suffers from work, winter, sickness, and bad luck.” His religion is one of his only solaces.
One
aspect of this popular religion is an emphasis on festivals.
Again Padre Fontes, “the religion of the people is festive.
God is happy; he is a festival.
The people do not understand religion without the festivals.” (Fontes,
p.33)
The
use of religion to establish a communal identity is clearly shown by the
local patron saint. An
organizing committee is busy all year collecting money, planning
decorations, and arranging events.
Whether it is a rural parish or a small village the importance of
these celebrations is immense. They
represent and solidify local pride.
The festa is a joyful occasion heralded by firecrackers—a
familiar noise to those traveling in the northern countryside in summer,
when most of these occur—and by music blaring from loudspeakers placed
on the church tower. The
pivotal event is the procession after the Mass, when the image of the
patron saint, along with other images, is carried with great pomp in a
brightly decorated stand or framework, called an andor, in a roughly
circular traditional path.
The
Cross
Another
aspect of popular religion is the ubiquity of the cross.
We find it on churches and their towers, on fountains, on the
"espigueiros"—the granaries, the houses of the rich, and on the communal
ovens and mills. In
previous times a cross was made of straw at the end of the planting of
the rye. It was placed near
the crop to defend it against bad weather or any curse put upon it by an
envious villager. There is
probably not a parish or village in the Barroso that does not have the
14 crosses of the Calvary.
Almost
every village church in Portugal has either an image of Jesus, usually
on the cross, the Virgin Mary, or a saint.
The north of Portugal is no exception.
Saints who are venerated (a sceptic might say “worshipped”)
are: Saint John (who can be
shown in different forms as Saint John of the Bridge (Braga) or Saint
John of Braga, shown as a child), Saint Ann (grandmother of Jesus),
Saint Sebastian, Saint Benidict (Gerês), Saint Gonçalvo (Not really a
saint—called Blessed Gundisalvus of Amarante--restorer of sexual vigor
and celebrated with a phallus), São Bartolomeo, Santa Lucia (Viana do
Castelo), and Saint
Cajetan (São Caetano, near Chaves).
There is an exaggerated devotion to these saints. They
are highly esteemed and the images are dressed in elaborate, rich
cloaks. The people prefer
the old saints and they don’t let anyone substitute them for new ones.
They kiss their statues, the ribbons that hang from them, the
cloaks, and their rosary. They
carry them in procession in their arms or in the rich andores
decorated with ribbons, paper, and balloons.
As they say in Pitões das Júnias:
an andor without ribbons is ugly. The people make many promises to these saints. Most are to ask for a favor—usually a cure from illness or the resolution of some family problem. These promises are carried out ("cumpridas") in a sanctuary, church or chapel. Those who make a promise are the offered ones (the "ofrecidos"). They are man, women, and children, who walk in the processions, dressed in mourning clothes down to their feet, barefooted, not speaking, standing or on their knees. They go round the church 9 times. Each turn they make they place a little stone near the cross to know when the nine turns are over. They promise to carry a pendant in the festivals or hold the arms of the andor, or be a standard bearer. Some go under the andores in the procession, not speaking, only praying. Even cows and their calves carry out promises around certain chapels and churches. The villagers offer pigs to San Antonio when the sow gives birth, so that the saint will protect the others. They promise olive oil to the statue of Jesus, bread to the Almas, the Souls, roosters and chickens, eggs etc. The people place great importance on material benefits and personal, reciprocal relationships with their saints. In a land where doctors were practically unheard of, especially in the isolated areas of the Barroso, the people had no recourse but to pray to specific saints for specific problems—Saint Laurence for toothaches, Saint Brás for sore throat, Saint Christopher for traveling, Our Lady of the Conception for infertility, the Holy Family for family problems, and so on. Also people will have unique devotions for particular saints that they have developed over time. If the believer’s prayer has been answered, this proves that the particular image addressed is a singularly sacred one, a favored line of communication. In the north of Portugal, there are several minor sites of pilgrimage to venerate saints. Perhaps the most famous is that of São Bento da Porta Aberta (St. Benedict of the Open Door), in the beautiful mountain landscape of Gerês near the dam of Caniçada. On the 13th of August, one will find men and women laboriously circumambulating the church on their knees. There is a path especially laid out in cement for this, to avoid even more painful natural surfaces.
This
scene is even more striking as these people are surrounded by others
celebrating the day with song, dance, eating and drinking.
It must be remembered that those on their knees are celebrating,
too—because the saint answered their prayers.
As São Bento da Porta Aberta often is called upon in cases of
fatal disease, these people may have a great deal for which to be
grateful. Festivals and Pilgrimage Sites Superstitions
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