Note 176 — Chapter VI

In the ‘Relacion de Misiones’ of the Brigadier Don Diego de Alvear, written between 1788 and 1801, and preserved in the ‘Coleccion de Angelis’, occurs the following curious description of the feast-day of a patron saint of a Jesuit reduction: ‘They make a long alley of interwoven canes, which ends in a triumphal arch, which they adorn with branches of palms and other trees with considerable grace and taste (con bastante gracia y simetria). Under the arch they hang their images of saints, their clothes, their first-fruits—as corn and sugar-cane, and calabashes full of maize-beer (chicha)—their meat and bread, together with animals both alive and dead, such as they can procure (como los pueden haber con su diligencia). Then, forming in a ring, they dance and shout, ‘Viva el rey! Viva el santo tutelar!’