I have said the street lamps give little light. I must make exception
of one week of the year, when there is great improvement. That week
they are carefully cleaned and trimmed, for it is given up as a feast
to the Virgin, and the lights are to shed radiance on gaudy little
images of that august lady which are inside of each lamp. The Pal, or
father priest, sees that these images are properly honored by the
people. He is here as elsewhere, the moving spirit.
San Bias is the patron saint of the country, It is said he won for
the Paraguayans a great victory in an early war. St. Cristobel
receives much homage also because he helped the Virgin Mary to carry
the infant Jesus across a river on the way to Egypt.
Asuncion was for many years the recluse headquarters of the Jesuits,
so of all enslaved Spanish-Americans probably the Guaranis are the
worst. During Lent they will inflict stripes on their bodies, or
almost starve themselves to death; and their abject humility to the
Pai is sad to witness. On special church celebrations large
processions will walk the streets, headed by the priests, chanting in
Latin. The people sometimes fall over one another in their eager
endeavors to kiss the priest's garments, They prostrate themselves,
count their beads, confess their sins, and seek the coveted blessing
of this demi-god, "who shuts the kingdom of heaven, and keeps the key
in his own pocket."
A noticeable feature of the place is that all the inhabitants go
barefooted. Ladies (?) will pass you with their stiffly-starched
white dresses, and raven-black hair neatly done up with colored
ribbons, but with feet innocent of shoes. Soldiers and policemen
tramp the streets, but neither are provided with footwear, and their
clothes are often in tatters. The Jesuits taught the Indians to
make shoes, but they alone wore them, exporting the surplus.
Shoes are not for common people, and when one of them dares to cover
his feet he is considered presumptuous. Hats they never wear, but
they have the beautiful custom of weaving flowers in their hair. When
flowers are not worn the head is covered by a white sheet called the
tupoi, and in some cases this garment is richly embroidered. These
females are devoted Romanists, as will be seen from the following
description of a feast held to St. John:
"Dona Juana's first care was to decorate with uncommon splendor a
large image of St. John, which, in a costly crystal box, she
preserved as the chief ornament of her principal drawing-room. He was
painted anew and re-gilded.
