Anita's Nativity Scene - Culture and tradition in the Vale do Capão

Aunt Anita had been making her nativity scene since she was 9 years old. That wish was born from watching the older people do it, and as she had always been Catholic and loved to praise the Christ Child, she thought it would be lovely to make her own lapinha (nativity scene). Hers was decorated with arrangements she found in the bush. As she grew older she received her first Christ Child from her father's hands, and went on making her nativity for nearly ninety years at her house on Rua dos Brancos. In time, the nativity drew the attention of neighbours and family. The praise of the Child God took place on the night of 24/25 December, when people prayed all night until dawn, in vigil. Coffee, cake, tea and a herbal cachaça were served, as is common at the community's celebrations. The next day she offered lunch (a feast) to the whole family and her godchildren — there were many of us, an abundant celebration guaranteed. The nativity was only taken down some months later, staying open to visitors and receiving the Three Kings procession on 6 January.

She liked to take the nativity down after her birthday, on 27 February, but always said that, for her part, it would stay up all year round. Every figure in the lapinha has a story; they were presents, little gifts from people who liked to stop by for a chat with her, and as her story is so captivating, people would make their donations and these soon became part of her nativity too.

As she grew frailer, I began to help her in this mission. At first as an assistant and gradually under her command, since she no longer had the strength to set it up. On the 24th we would go there so she could receive the visitors, and all the beauty she radiated. Towards the end of her journey she lived in the village with my mother Dalva, her sister, who cared for her until her passing in 2021. Born on 27/02/1925, she died at 96, still lucid.

In 2022 I still carried out the making of the nativity, but it is now suspended for some years, until we can revive it, for it is an event that transcends her existence.

It is a matrix of our culture and ancestry. With faith, before long we will set it up again.

— Account by Vilma Araújo, Anita's niece, who helped her keep this tradition alive in the last years of her life.