Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/216

 attaches a kind of superstitious significance to these acts, and thinks that the amusements appended to the Roman Catholic holidays as celebrated by the descendants of the Portuguese, are also an essential part of the religious ceremonies. But in this respect, the uneducated whites and half-breeds are not a bit more enlightened than the poor dull-souled Indian. All look upon a religious holiday as an amusement, in which the priest takes the part of director or chief actor.

Almost every unusual event, independent of saints' days, is made the occasion of a holiday by the sociable, easy-going people of the white and mameluco classes; funerals, christenings, weddings, the arrival of strangers, and so forth. The custom of "waking" the dead is also kept up. A few days after I arrived, I was awoke in the middle of a dark moist night by Cardozo, to sit up with a neighbour whose wife had just died. I found the body laid out on a table, with crucifix and lighted wax-candles at the head, and the room full of women and girls squatted on stools or on their haunches. The men were seated round the open door, smoking, drinking coffee, and telling stories; the bereaved husband exerting himself much to keep the people merry during the remainder of the night. The Ega people seem to like an excuse for turning night into day; it is so cool and pleasant, and they can sit about during these hours in the open air, clad as usual in simple shirt and trowsers, without streaming with perspiration.

The patron saint is Santa Theresa; the festival at whose anniversary lasts, like most of the others, ten days. It begins very quietly with evening litanies sung in the