Journal Archive June 3rd
Rio Branco
June 3, 2003
Dear Friends, Family, and Colleagues,
The state of Acre has one of the highest rates of “evangelical” church membership in Brazil, according to a recent newspaper report. Most prominent among these churches is the Assembly of God, but there are others, such as the Pentecostals, all broadly derived from the Protestant Reformation associated with Martin Luther. Apparently, in the last decade, literally millions of people have left the Catholic church for these others, so that Brazil is now officially about 75% Catholic, down from the low 90s.
These churches are all over town, from tiny shacks in poorer neighborhoods to a magisterial Assembly of God building along one of the main avenues that rivals the local Catholic Church in grandeur. I am not sure how to explain the appeal of these churches, but my experience with one of them may give some insight.
Right in the middle of downtown is a place called the “House of Blessing.” On the block bordering the central plaza, it looks like an ordinary storefront, but somehow opens up into a large warehouse. I had walked by it before, but hadn’t gone inside until a young fellow I met at the UDV invited me to check it out.
Inside was hot and stuffy. There were about three hundred people seated in pews, with chairs set up behind those to accommodate the overflow. My friend Daniel said that was nothing; sometimes people crowd in all the way back to the entrance. At the front of the room was a stage, and on the stage there was a black preacher speaking in frenzied voice into a microphone, attached to a PA system turned up much too loud.
The funny thing was, he was not preaching in any ordinary sense, but ranting about how he was sure there were three people in the audience who would come down and put 100 reals (about $35) into the dish held by two guys in front of the stage. I thought his message was pretty sly: he implied that God wanted people to do it, and that they would be blessed if they did; but lo, the devil was that force telling them to hold back!
A couple people did come down, to huge applause, and put money in the dish, whereupon they were also blessed by the preacher, who put his hand on top of their head and told them God was blessing them, especially in their financial affairs. From there, the preacher moved down to 50 reals, and was starting on 20 when I decided I’d seen enough.
This is what is called the “theology of prosperity.” Heck, it worked in the US!
It reminds me of the televangelist joke. Jerry Falwell (or similar) went to visit a country preacher in the South. The country preacher explained how they divided their donations into money for charitable projects and money for the church administration. “We draw a circle on the floor and throw the money in the air, and whatever lands in the circle the Lord keeps for charitable projects, and what lands outside goes to the church administration.” “Say,” remarked Falwell, “that’s similar to our method. Except we just throw the money in the air, and whatever the Lord grabs before it hits the ground, he keeps.”
Ba-bump-tch!
Here are some highlights of the last week:
An English fellow and a Brazilian anthropologist showed up at the hotel for a couple of days. She studied in England and works for the Brazilian government, teaching the rudiments of anthropology to groups of Indians (something ironic about that, isn’t there?). He is a web designer who “fell in love” with Brazil. He has traveled all over the world, and figured he could travel around Brazil for a while, telecommuting to his job through internet cafes. It was nice speaking English with them and having semi-intellectual type conversations.
Ian (the English guy, natch) told me he has had good success getting money out of ATMs of a certain bank. This was kind of a hassle last time, when I discovered I couldn’t get money from any ATM, although I could use my Visa in many stores and at the hotel. I was happily to surprised to find that my ATM card worked at this bank, too.
Last Thursday I went to visit Dona Peregrina, the widow of Mestre Irineu, the fellow who founded the oldest ayahuasca church in Brazil. She has a reputation for being very closed and protective, which she really deserves. Last time I was here I went and pleaded for her to let me come to her church (it has a sort of cachet of being the “original”), and she finally assented. This time started off on equally chilly ground, but soon we were chatting rather nicely, and she even invited me to stay for lunch.
On Friday I went to the “Concentration Work” at her church. This is about a three-hour service, where everyone drinks the ayahuasca and just sits in the pews, concentrating. Instead of silent reflection, however, we had what you might call a guided meditation, with the aid of studio-recorded hymns played over the church’s stereo system. In Santo Daime great importance is placed on the hymns, which are said to contain the “Doctrine.” This set of hymns was rather ominous by comparison with others I’ve heard, delivering messages of divine discipline for those who don’t love one another and do what’s right, through the medium of minor key waltz and mazurka melodies played on guitar and keyboards. It went really well with the general sternness that is the hallmark of that particular church and its leader; afterwards people were pretty nice, though. I met one guy there who is a local prosecutor, and another who works in the bakery across the street from the hotel, where I think we get the bread we have with breakfast. In general it was a really good experience for me. I especially like how the concentration sessions end with everyone singing ten or twelve hymns of Mestre Irineu’s collection, a hundred or more voices united a cappella. Another neat thing is how, during moments of silence, you could hear people singing in some of the other three Santo Daime churches located in the neighborhood.
On Sunday I went to the crafts fair they hold each week. There one can sample local foods, like tacacá, a kind of soup whose most exciting ingredient is a gel extracted from manioc that makes one’s mouth tingle. They also have fresh-squeezed cane juice, which is very tasty, especially with lime squeezed into it. The coolest is that you can get to the fair walking along the canal that has been made into a park in the last year. I can’t say enough good stuff about this park, which has soccer, volleyball, and basketball courts along its length, and provides both recreation and a highway for bike commuters.
I have a sore throat again, it has never quite gone away.
Yesterday I went out to the university again and met with Prof Carlos Alberto. He introduced me to some of his colleagues in the history department. Separately, we had a nice conversation about Brazilian anthropologists who study ayahuasca “going native.” (I think it’s more a case that they already belong to ayahuasca churches and see their “study” as a way of legitimating the churches and documenting their “culture” for the benefit of the churches themselves.)
I’ve had a bit of the blues lately, missing home and feeling alone. I do have lots of allies here, though, and sooner or later they’ll come around. I’ve got to keep reminding myself how important this time here is, even when it takes an effort to believe it!
I have read two master’s theses that Prof Carlos Alberto hooked me up with, both written last year by students from Rio Branco who are nevertheless somehow affiliated with the Federal University of Pernambuco, and each dealing with a local ayahuasca church. I have also started reading Martin Hollis’s book on The Philosophy of Social Science. I tell ya, that’s enough to give Richard Simmons the blues!
Thanks to everyone for supporting me and Mar in this, even if it’s just by checking our web site and thinking good thoughts.
With fond thoughts of home, and hugs to all,
Matthew
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