The Feast of Corpus Christi: Artisan Crafts and Skilled Trades in Eighteenth-Century Rio De Janeiro

In this text, motivated by the need to offer a different perspective to the representation of the Senado da Câmara (Municipal Council) in relation to the society that participated in Corpus Christi, I return to the study of the feast in the eighteenth century. The câmara was responsible for the spatial-temporal framework of the ritual in the diverse cities of Portuguese America,¹ among other prerogatives and duties identified and analyzed by the historiography regarding this institution of the Ancien Regime.² According to the câmara’s minutes, the “Church, the Senate and the People (Povo)” would be present at the feast, thus establishing in the discourse a tripartite and corporative social order that does not identify the participants, whether individuals or the diverse “bodies” that comprised the Church or the people. And, of even greater importance, the câmara’s discourse makes reference to the three bodies it claims to represent. However, it is known that if the câmara symbolically evokes the respublica (commonwealth) through the organization and appearance at this royal feast, in political terms, the participation of elements that comprised the people in the Senado da Câmara, in other words, of the artisan crafts and skilled trades, was restricted to Bahia and Rio de Janeiro for a short period of time.³

The feast of Corpus Christi in the eighteenth century was one of the most solemn in the Portuguese world while preserving popular aspects that tended to be excluded or reorganized in a more evident manner during the reign of D. João V (1708–1750). There were dances, giants, and representations traditionally provided by the skilled trades. Such is the case of Saint George’s stately cavalcade, provided by the skilled trades linked to iron.⁴ The saint and his cavalcade were probably introduced at the time of the institution of the feast and procession in Portugal, during the reign of D. João I (1385–1433). Ever since, Saint George has simultaneously been related to the monarchy and to the trades.

According to Georgina Santos,⁵ Saint George becomes the object of a dynastic and public cult, falling to D. João I to ascribe the saint’s patronage to the iron and fire trades. In this interpretation, emphasis falls again on the royal initiative that was carried on by his successors, especially D. João II, who includes the saint in new processions, standardizes the royal ceremonies, and gives the name of Saint George to the fortress on the Costa da Mina [West Africa], “making of the representation an essentially political art.”⁶

In Rio de Janeiro, as in other cities of the Portuguese Overseas Empire, the custom of having Saint George lead the procession was renewed, and it stayed that way until the beginning of the nineteenth century. In that city, as in Lisbon, the brotherhood of Saint George was responsible for putting together the saint and his cavalcade. However, in Portuguese America, the Casa dos Vinte e Quatro (House of 24)⁷ did not exist and, as I have already observed, the political representation of the craftsmen was restricted. In Rio de Janeiro there are reports that they “were heard by the Senate” in 1624, 1661, and 1736 through the procurators of the master craftsmen, but the difference is that unlike in the city of Salvador, in Rio there was no Juiz do Povo (people’s tribune or people’s judge). The craftsmen had intermittent participation with corporative representation that still deserves investigation.

In most of the câmaras of Portuguese America, municipal positions were to be filled by nobles of the land who carried certificates of purity of blood and did not exercise vile professions.⁸ However, Portuguese colonial câmaras never became closed corporations like the cabildos (Municipal Council) of Spanish America, where the position of vereador (councilman) or regidor (Spanish term for alderman or councilor) could be bought and held for life.⁹ The most recent historiography has attributed greater movement in the evaluation...