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A curandeira, or prayer woman, calls on an antiquated ritual to heal aches, itches and panic in children. The rite mixes elements of Catholicism and white magic. Waving local plants before the patient, such as peao and peao rocha (the later to ward off the evil eye) the prayer women recites the Ave Maria, Our Father or The Creed. Still, to be affective, the patient must seek treatment just before sunset for three consecutive days. The prayer woman in this image is Analia de Silva. She is 83 years of age and newly widowed and has lived in her house made of sticks, mud (and recently brick) for 81 of those years.
©Paul Lima/Endangered Coast |
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