The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-06-05
Social Customs In Brazil.

! OUR host is a gentleman of the old
Brazilian school. When he places his
house at our orders we may be sure that
we are welcome. The breakfast is as
unceremonious as possible, but Curl
pusly different from a meal at home.
There are no ladies at the table; only
few families in Santarem have adopted
the new customs in this respect and Sr.
Caetano is not one of them. Two or
three barefooted negro servants stand
behind our chair with very little to do.
Sr. Caetano serves the meat, and then
! invites us to serve ourselves. Mao hG
ceremonial" Beyond that there is no
passing of plates, and no waiting be-
| tween the courses. After dessert of
fruit and wines, the inevitable tooth
picks are passed around we light cigar
| cites and sit smoking for ten minutes
before leaving the table. This is very
much what we shall find at all the bet
ter houses; no especial preparation is
made for transient guests, and we are
welcome at the table of any ac-
uuaintance at half-minute's notice.
During the hot hours from two till
four many of the stores are closed; the
master takes his siesta, and though your
business be never so urgent no one will
venture to awaken him. Beware how
you break in upon this afternoon nap of
Brazilian; if you do so, you will be
set down as ill-bred and decidedly
bore. Rather avoid attemting business
and calls at this hour; they arc as much
[ out of place as a New York visit would
be at seven O'Clock in the morning.
Dinner is always at four, precisely
like breakfast in the courses and fol-
lowed by coffee or tea. We stroll out
at shutdown, and make acquaintance
readily. People are sitting before their
door, as we have seen them in Para,
only here there are no ladies in the
groups. They smoke, play at draughts,
oftenest of all talk politics; and you find
after little that members of the same
party fall together. We who have no
politics are welcome everywhere. There
are many intelligent and cultivated men
here, and traders who have spent halt
their life on unheard-of rivers, among
semi-savage tribes; from them we can
pick up great stores of information that
will be valuable to us in the future. |
like this Brazilian custom of out-of-door
evening chats; there is charm about it
that encourages interchange of ideas
and opinions.
The hour for ceremonious, black-coat
calls is in the morning, shortly after
breakfast The Senior welcomes us
politely at the door, conducts us to one
end of the room, where settee is placed
against the wall, and chairs are set in
front of it, so as to form an exact square.
Here we talk commonplaces and pass
compliments, and, altogether, are quite
as unnatural as we would be under SIM
liar circumstances at home. On leav-
ing we are politely bowed to the door,
and we go away wondering if this is the
pleasant, sociable gentleman with whom
we were chatting the evening before.
Something of this same ceremony is
found in other social observances. For
instance, if we leave the town, even for
month, we are expected to make calls
on all our acquaintance para despedir,
for good-by.
One day we received printed invita-
tons to an evening party dancing
party, of course, and the elite will be
there. We find the large house full of
guests, ladies and gentlemen handsome
ly dressed in the French fashion, the
description of which is quite beyond
our geological pen. Brazilians are
graceful dancers, but the ladies between
the sets are any thing but entertaining;
custom, or bashfulness, keeps them
together at one end of the room, while
the gentlemen may be strolling down
the street to the little beer shop, which
is always open on such occasions,
These parties are almost the only occa-
sions on which ladies are permitted to
mingle in social life. There are, in
deed, exceptions with one or two of the
better families, in which ladies come to
the table with their husbands and
brothers, and converse freely with
guests; and you will often see some
young fellow stop at q window for
moment to talk with some fair acquaint-
ance. But, as a rule, the old Portu-
guese custom of seclusion is still domi-
nant in all the Amazonian country
towns. The people think, and say, that
women are unfit for freedom. Wiser
men mourn the want of education for
their daughters they urge, with much
seeming truth, that the sex must be
fitted for liberty before it is freed
Beyond this restraint, I believe thai
women are universally well treated;
but they must lead dull life, shut out
from the world in their dark rooms,
They look yellow and unhealthy. If
young man is paying addresses to lady
he visits her at stated intervals, always
in the presence of her mother or some
female relative. In course of time he
carries her through dressy wedding al
the church; there is great party in
honor of the event; and thereafter she
is more shut up from the world thar
ever. -Her6ert II. Snasth'S ''Brazil."