Cupid on the Amazon: Sexual Witchcraft and Society in Late-Colonial Pará, Brazil
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2003
Department 1
History
Abstract
A Tasty Kiss, Doth Pleasure Bring
Gloss
Allow that in these arms of yours
My hope should rise
There cannot be change In such strong ties
My heart in pieces
Because of you thus I drink
Give me a strong sweet embrace
Come to me
So I may savor from you
A tasty kiss, that pleasure brings
True Love [rubric]
Bring Hum bejo q' gosto tem
Gloza
Deyxame q' neses teus brraços
Se anima m.a esperança
q' não pode haver mudança
então apertados Laços
Meu Curação empedaços
porteu Respeyto aSim trago
dame hum abraço dose bem
apertado chegate amim
q' quero saber dety
Hum bejo q' gosto tem
Amor Firme [rubrica]
In the summer of 1769, a young man named Anacleto Saraiva da Silva sent these lines to his lover at Cametá, a Portuguese colonial town of two thousand set amid cacao plantations on the lower Tocantins River in the northern captaincy of Pará. Anacleto sought to woo his woman with ten-lined décimas glosadas formed by "glossing" or expounding on a "motto," or phrase, that constituted the final line of the poem. These verses, written on both sides of a single sheet of paper that was then carefully folded into a palm-sized rectangle so it could be passed along secretly, provide a unique look at one style of courtship in colonial Amazonia. (excerpt)
Recommended Citation
Barbara A. Sommer, “Cupid on the Amazon: Sexual Witchcraft and Society in Late-Colonial Pará, Brazil,” Colonial Latin American Historical Review 12.4 (2003): 415-46.