MARIA, FROM CRATO TO THE WORLD
In 1945, Mrs Nenzinha and her four children were waiting for a steamboat in Petrolina, state of Pernambuco, to cross the São Francisco River to Juazeiro in Bahia. Her husband, Mr. Joaquim Passos, was waiting for the family, unaware that their daughter had run away.
Maria was unhappy. She had been forced to leave the man she loved, Zé Bento, a wealthy farmer of Indigenous ancestry, tall and strong, with black hair falling to his shoulders. The family left without even saying goodbye to him. Her mother, Mrs. Nenzinha, had commanded her to pack without explaining their sudden departure, besides they would meet mr Joaquim. Her mother just warned her they were leaving that very day.
At first, Mr. Joaquim had accepted Zé Bento as a suitor. Zé Bento had even set aside a white horse and had it saddled especially for Maria. Joaquim looked down on Zé Bento because of his mixed heritage, though. Perhaps he also felt threatened by the financial independence his daughter's suitor represented. At that time, Joaquim was struggling to recover from the seven-year drought that had stripped him of his assets. I can´t say for sure, but the fact is that one night Joaquim ran away to Bahia without giving any explanation or warning to his children. He just ordered his wife to follow him as soon as possible.
Two weeks later, Mrs. Nenzinha left quietly, as they used to say. She sold their few remaining possessions and departed without saying goodbye to anyone. Maria was inconsolable because she had no explanation for why she could no longer marry Zé Bento.
In Ceará at that time, courtship was a strictly controlled ritual; interactions between young people consisted of little more than stolen glances during Sunday Mass. Men asked for a girl's hand only through her father. Maria, for example, had never spoken to Zé Bento directly. Her only contact with him was serving coffee when he visited her parent´s house on Sundays. If she lingered in the living room, her father would growl and clear his throat, and she would ran to the kitchen or somewhere else. She was not allowed to stay there.
Such was the scenario, Maria angry with her father, waiting for the steamboat in Petrolina harbor. In 1945, according to Brazil's northeastern way, she had to swallow hard and do her parents' will. However, she promised herself that she would run away during the trip with the first one who wanted her. She would never reach Bahia state.
Angry mood and the devil´s help, as she herself used to say decades later. Very beautiful 18 years of age, blonde, green eyes, shiny hair around the waist, the Ceara´s born girl did not need much time to get a suitor. In fact, Luis Severino noticed her on the second day and fell in love.
The family had to wait for 5 days for the return of the single steamboat that served as a crossing through the São Francisco River. Everyone depended on a single steamboat, people, animals, goods, and everything else that needed to pass from one territory to another.
The family stayed in a boarding house, and Maria thought she was in luck, 5 days was all she needed to achieve her goal, escape!
MARIA´S ESCAPE
While the family waits for the steamboat in the boarding house, Luis saw her and falls head over heels in love. He´s from Pernambuco, 26 years old, blue eyes, and short. He was a skilled merchant with a modest fortune, including a house, a commercial property, employees, and savings, which was quite significant. As a trader at the port, he purchased goods that arrived on the steamboat and resold them in the city. He was a respected man, well-known and well-liked in Petrolina.
Talking to a girl at that time in the northeast of Brazil was almost a crime, but he managed to send a message and talk to Maria for a few moments. Luis immediately proposed to her, to which she replied that her mother would never agree without the presence of her father, who was in Bahia. Anyway, her father would hardly agree to their marriage, since he didn´t know Luis, adding, “My father will kill you!” She had a revenge plan and then tried to paint her parents as uncompromisingly as possible.
Then he proposed, “Run away with me! we cheat the priest, I´ll give him good money, he´d agree to perform the wedding." At that time people used to say “throw a stone at the priest” meaning making up a story and giving some money to the vicar, who would make the wedding without many questions or the presence of parents or guardians.
She agreed, not because she liked him, but out of revenge against her parents who fled from her fiancé. She was in love with the man who had been left behind and whose fate she did not know. They agreed that the next night they would run away when everyone in the boarding house was asleep. After her mother slept, she packed her stuff in a suitcase and lay down on a hammock to wait for the agreed time, midnight.
She dozed off but "something" shook the hammock, a very strange event according to Maria. She woke up and went out to see if Luis had arrived, and there he was. Maria took the suitcase and left in the darkness, her heart leaping with fear, excitement for the unknown, but satisfaction for carrying out her revenge.
Luis was a mature man 26 years old, of course, he tried to approach and kiss her. But she was an indomitable beast! She jumped up and threatened him with a knife she had hidden in her clothes declaring, “You do not touch me! Dare if you can!” Luis freaked out, “No Maria, you can trust me, I won't try anything to you! I'm going to take you to a friend's house, he's a police officer, and you stay with his wife until the wedding. I assure you you´re safe.”
Maria pondered, she was already ruined, if someone had woken up and missed her, nothing would save her from taking a beating or worse. She had no choice and agreed to go to Mrs. Mariinha's house. There, she was greeted with affection by the woman. The couple were already aware of Luis' intentions and had prepared to receive the bride. Notice that he was a wealthy and well-connected man, single living alone in the city.
Maria stayed under the protection of the deputy and his wife. It is noteworthy, that on the night that Maria fled from her father, Joaquim dreamed that he killed her with an axe, as she learned years later. Misteries!
Meanwhile, her mother wakes up at the boarding house and does not find her daughter. She searched the neighborhood as Maria was hiding in the house of Mrs. Mariinha and the deputy, terrified to realize what she had done to the family and herself, Maria wouldn´t dare head out. Mrs Nenzinha looks for her for a couple of days, unsuccessfully. The steamboat arrives and she has to leave with the remaining children, Josefa, Luis, and Juciê (baptismal name of João). Before taking the steamboat she sends a telegram to her husband in the following terms, "I'll be with you in 3 days. Maria fled.”
Maria didn´t have a birth certificate, and Luis Severino spent a lot of money to fix all documents. He paid the priest, the deputy, at the notary's office, and who knows how many others and managed to perform the wedding. Finally, they went to live in Luis' house, a large corner house.
THE FATHER-IN-LAW
Luis´ family lived far away, they only learned of the marriage days after the fact. Almost two months after the wedding, Luis' father went to visit his son and daughter-in-law.
Maria afraid of what her father-in-law might think after such an awkward marriage, decides to treat him very carefully. Maria had already realized that her husband, Luis, was a little crazy, very impatient, and demeaning. Rich northeastern male, accustomed to commanding and being obeyed, he was always complaining about anything. Maria was quiet, after all, she had never left her parents' house, and now she depended exclusively on her husband. She felt sad, already regretting running away.
Deciding to behave as courteous and polite as possible, she welcomed her husband's father and made everything she knew in the kitchen. Luis brought home special products for the occasion, meats, string beans, wine, etc... As she cooks, Luis decides to serve wine to his father and starts looking for the corkscrew. As not finding it, he gets more and more annoyed accusing her of having lost the corkscrew.
He calls her, bubonic plague and other typical northeastern profanities. She´s ashamed of her father-in-law, feeling deeply humiliated, but silent. Maria and her father-in-law don't say a word. Luis, enraged, threatens to hit her with a whip. The whip he used to beat horses was hanging on a nail behind the door.
At this point, her blood had already risen. Besides being ashamed, she was furious thinking to herself, “I'm going to kill this rude guy, damn bastard!”
As he picks up the whip, she takes his shotgun, which was in a corner of the kitchen, and starts aiming right in the middle of his eyes! Maria had decided she was going to shoot, not anywhere else, but right between his eyes. As she holds the shotgun and sharpens her aim, her father-in-law finally reacts. Jumps underneath the weapon and pushes it up just, as she pulls the trigger. The bullet hits the ceiling.
Maria was out of her mind ruminating that she wouldn´t get beaten by that wretched man, hell no! Luis was wide-eyed, pale, and out of action, staring at her as if seeing her for the first time. So the speechless father-in-law, who hadn´t moved a finger to calm his son down, declares, “My son! Let´s take the pace! You didn´t marry a woman, you married a warrior in a skirt.
Luis was scared to death, he took his jacket and hat and there they both went to a destination unknown to Maria.
SUIT AND TIE
She was devastated, by herself in the world after that event, her fate was uncertain. But she thought practically, “There's a lot of food in here, I'm going to lunch, I'm hungry. There's enough to feed me for a long time. I won't starve, screw him. He can come back whenever he wants.”
It's been five days, Luis didn´t show up. She began to feel free for the first time in her life, with no one to command her! “Oh boy, this is a good life!” On the fifth day, she decided to take a walk around the neighborhood, but she was too embarrassed to go out in the daytime. She felt shame and fear of the neighbors. And more, right-handed women did not walk the streets alone. Then she decides to head out at night. Put on his clothes, suit, and shoes, tied up her hair, and fit his hat over it.
At night in the dark, she looks like a man. She put a knife on the strap and left determined to breathe freely. As the only activity available women and children used to sit in the backyards, talking under the moonlight. While hanging around she listens to them saying, "Here comes a man!" After all, a man was a respected figure at that time and land. Maria feeling happy and free, starts whistling and walking like a male, stomping, determined.
THE RETURN
Well... after fifteen days Luis comes back home suspicious, he doesn't even mention the shot event. He asks her how is everything, she replies that all is fine. So they start their marital life. He behaves politely, after all, he has not married any woman. Besides being beautiful, she was as brave as a beast. According to her, he never threatened to hit her again. He was nervous, used to cursing, but more restrained.
What about the father-in-law? He visited them with Luis' siblings months later, but never visited the house frequently, nor did he show appreciation for Maria in the 6 years they lived together until Luis' death. Maria was 24 years old when she became a widow. She had four children, only the last one survived. But that's another story.
Brasil - 2024
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