{"id":"AMARAL1935-001","label":"Lavras berra-boi at the cemetery door","people_or_site":"Lenten encomendadores of Quenta-Sol and Capim, Lavras","country_current":"Brazil","historic_region":"Minas Gerais / Lavras (Quenta-Sol and Rua do Capim)","macroregion":"South America / Brazil","local_name":"berra-boi","source_term":"berra-boi","source_language":"Portuguese","object_description":"A small board tied to a cord fastened to a handle, swung in the air.","function_summary":"Sounded at midnight in front of the churches and at the cemetery door during the Lenten commendation of the souls (encomendação das almas).","attestation_type":"historical_text","source_key":"amaral1935_lavras_gazeta_berra_boi","source_type":"historical_text","source_url":"https://ufla.acervobh.com.br/wp-content/uploads/tainacan-items/75/3027/a_gazeta_1935_000211.pdf","page_or_plate":"A Gazeta 13 Jan 1935, p. 4; Alvarenga 1982, p. 331","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Lavras town centre; the rite moved between churches and the cemetery, and Quenta-Sol and Capim are town neighbourhoods.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"At midnight in Lent the berra-boi was heard in front of the churches of Lavras and at the cemetery door. The singers came from the poor hillside streets of Quenta-Sol and Capim: chosen voices formed the band of encomendadores who commended the souls of the dead, and a boy handled the berra-boi. In 1935 the town still remembered their duets and the voice of Silvestre the butcher, whose street cry had once sold meat through its streets. The berra-boi was a little board on a cord tied to a handle, whirled to give a roar of 'incredible ghostly character'.","pull_quote":"A' meia noite, o \"berra-boi\" se faz ouvir em frente das Igrejas e Paços, na porta do Cemiterio...","pull_quote_translation":"At midnight the berra-boi makes itself heard in front of the churches and chapels, at the cemetery door...","pull_quote_cite":"Amaral Sobrinho, A Gazeta (Lavras), 13 January 1935, p. 4","term_gloss":"berra-boi (literally 'bellow-ox'): a Brazilian name for the bullroarer.","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["death_rebirth"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Amaral Sobrinho, 'Minha Columna: Cousas sem nexo,' A Gazeta (Lavras) 5, no. 211 (13 January 1935), p. 4","url":"https://ufla.acervobh.com.br/wp-content/uploads/tainacan-items/75/3027/a_gazeta_1935_000211.pdf"},{"citation":"Oneyda Alvarenga, Música Popular Brasileira, 2nd ed. (1982), p. 331, s.v. Berra-boi","url":"https://pt.scribd.com/document/593530979/Oneyda-Alvarenga-Musica-Popular-Brasileira-1960"}],"source_citations":"Amaral Sobrinho, 'Minha Columna: Cousas sem nexo,' A Gazeta (Lavras) 5, no. 211 (13 January 1935), p. 4; Oneyda Alvarenga, Música Popular Brasileira, 2nd ed. (1982), p. 331, s.v. Berra-boi","source_display":"Amaral Sobrinho, 'Minha Columna: Cousas sem nexo,' A Gazeta (Lavras) 5, no. 211 (13 January 1935), p. 4; Oneyda Alvarenga, Música Popular Brasileira, 2nd ed. (1982), p. 331, s.v. Berra-boi","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A small board tied to a cord fastened to a handle, swung in the air.","function_display":"Sounded at midnight in front of the churches and at the cemetery door during the Lenten commendation of the souls (encomendação das almas).","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"historical text","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"lenten encomendadores","display_name":"Lavras berra-boi at the cemetery door","image":{"full":"assets/objects/pd_plates/nimuendaju1946_timbira_pl35e.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/pd_plates/nimuendaju1946_timbira_pl35e_thumb.jpg","alt":"Nimuendajú’s plate image of two Eastern Timbira (Canela) bullroarers with long cords: one short and broad, the other longer and narrower.","credit":"Curt Nimuendajú, The Eastern Timbira (1946), pl. 35e","license":"Public domain","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/timbira","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Eastern Timbira (Canela) bull-roarers with cords","pool_id":"auto-pd_plates--nimuendaju1946_timbira_pl35e","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"amaral1935-001-lenten-encomendadores-of-quenta-sol-and-capim-lavras"}