ABSTRACT
Salvador, the capital of colonial Brazil, was born in a procession. e first governor, Tomé de Sousa, had organized a procession in 1549 when the city was founded, and from that point forward public ceremonies often sacralized by their association with the religious calendar became part of the city’s life and its public function. e governor’s expedition had also included six Jesuits who had accompanied him in order to begin a missionary effort among the
indigenous peoples of the coast, and they also had soon found in religious processions a technique to attract and interest converts. e purpose of these public displays was sometimes celebratory, sometimes acts of supplication, and sometimes penitential, but in any case, the processions proved to be a successful way of conveying the messages of the Church and the State. At times, the processions could have an immediate purpose such as ending an epidemic, a drought, or a flood, often by a display of penitence, and at times they might be festive, to mark a royal birth, a marriage, or a victory. en too there were the processions of the Catholic calendar that, while religious in nature, might also have political implications and uses.2 In any case, direct vision of the presence of authority or of its symbols had a tremendous force because vision and direct observation promoted ‘affection, adherence, and surrender’ in this age.3
