Santo Antonio

Santo Antonio is a pretty popular saint here. Dia dos Namorados is approximately equivalent to Valentine's Day in the US, as it is decorated with hearts and spending time with that significant other. In Brasil, Dia dos Namorados is June 12th, because it is the day before Santo Antonio's feast day. Santo Antonio is supposed to help people, especially young women, find a match. On our way to Praia do Forte, our program director Clara was advising us girls on how to get Santo Antonio to help us. Apparently, you take a statue of the saint and turning him upside down before telling him that you would really like a boyfriend/husband, couldn't you please help me out, thanks! And then, if that doesn't work, you put him upside down in water, and repeat your message. Then, when you do find love, you turn him rightside round.

After a Sunday afternoon shopping with my host family, we attended a Santo Antonio celebration. The ceremony had prayers, song, and incense, pretty typical things for a Catholic event. Then everyone enjoyed the food and drinks. I tried a plateful of the food, and there was a very yummy apple treat. My host mom later offered to bring me more food, but I declined, as I wasn't hungry. A while later, a young guy from our table disappears and returns with two bolinhos de estudante and two cups of hot chocolate. He offers me the hot chocolate and a bolinho, telling me what they are and explaining that the bolinho is a dessert made from tapioca.
I like getting the explanation and the names. I've been trying to get my host family to tell me what I am eating, but it isn't always so successful because we don't eat together or, I suspect, because some things might have names along the lines of my dad's Macaroni Hotdish, which is an invention that is never the same twice. Or, if I ask Joao my host brother, he tells me that the food in question is called Lulu de ze bau, regardless of what the food is. (He also applies this phrase to just about everything, but I'm stumped as to what it means.) I know the names of my breakfast foods and about half the other food I've eaten. I'm still working on my food related vocabulary. But at any rate, I accept the food from the guy at the Santo Antonio party. My host mom thought this was a good excuse to tease me about finding such a nice guy, marrying, and staying in Brasil forever.