“As we approached Natividade, Tocantins’ oldest and most enigmatic town dating back to 1734, a strange translucent whiteness hovered overhead as if a wide, diffuse light was gathering above. […] Although Natividade is the only historically preserved colonial backwater in the state, it is so unassuming, so far off the track that the comprehensive Four Wheels directory doesn’t include it in its thousand listings. That is a pity, for – to the secular minded – it boasts one of Brazil’s best examples of primitive art, or – to the more spiritual – one of the most impressive expressions of cataclysmic faith, in the humble home and garden of Dona Romana.” [To Bélem & Back, p.76]
I found a visit with Dona Romana so otherworldly, it merited an entire chapter to itself. Here is how it began:
“The town’s eerie light lingered and then was gone, which left a visit to Dona Romana’s, just north of town, for the following day. As there were no signs, an early morning jogger pointed the way down a narrow dirt drive – a promising beginning.” [p.78, for captions please hover over image]
![“The house was open to the outdoors, which facilitated finding the dining area and adjoining kitchen, whose wood-burning stove was attended by several Bahian-looking women, white blouses shining over dark skin.” [p.79]-046w](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-046w.jpg "“The house was open to the outdoors, which facilitated finding the dining area and adjoining kitchen, whose wood-burning stove was attended by several Bahian-looking women, white blouses shining over dark skin.” [p.79]")
![TDona Romana at breakfast, behind her “...a white Avenging Archangel with drawn sword standing over a prostrate satanic figure with mulatto shading and kid-sized horns.” [p.79]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-048w.jpg "Dona Romana at breakfast, behind her “...a white Avenging Archangel with drawn sword standing over a prostrate satanic figure with mulatto shading and kid-sized horns.” [p.79]")
![“Words can barely do justice to the expansively small world that opened before my eyes: of scores of two-dimensional concrete statues, ranging from a meter to three high, many with outstretched arms; of myriad stone gates and towers interspersed among short lava-rock fences, corrals, and bas-relief animals; much of it mysteriously adorned by wire configurations, effects, and grounding connections, as far as the eye can see.” [p.78]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-037w.jpg "“Words can barely do justice to the expansively small world that opened before my eyes: of scores of two-dimensional concrete statues, ranging from a meter to three high, many with outstretched arms; of myriad stone gates and towers interspersed among short lava-rock fences, corrals, and bas-relief animals; much of it mysteriously adorned by wire configurations, effects, and grounding connections, as far as the eye can see.” [p.78]")
![How did it start? “‘...So I thought the responsibility too large by half, but then out came the stones,” she motioned to the statues with a sweep of her arm, “like that! But I don’t take credit for the beauty you can see here, no. That’s not a problem.’” [p.80]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-015w.jpg "How did it start? “‘...So I thought the responsibility too large by half, but then out came the stones,” she motioned to the statues with a sweep of her arm, “like that! But I don’t take credit for the beauty you can see here, no. That’s not a problem.’” [p.80]")
![“‘So now it is going to rise.’ Pause. “‘And how is that?’ I pursued. “‘This asteroid that is approaching,’ she said, as if self-evident, ‘will make her rise up.’ “‘Oh!’” [p.80]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-023w.jpg "“‘So now it is going to rise.’ Pause.
“‘And how is that?’ I pursued.
“‘This asteroid that is approaching,’ she said, as if self-evident, ‘will make her rise up.’
“‘Oh!’” [p.80]")
![How does she support herself? “‘My son,’ she explained patiently, ‘God lacks nothing, don’t you see? Someone brings a small something, another brings a juice, someone brings rice or gives a piece of meat or a portion of beans. It’s enough that we are never wanting.’” [p.84]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-019w.jpg "How does she support herself? “‘My son,’ she explained patiently, ‘God lacks nothing, don’t you see? Someone brings a small something, another brings a juice, someone brings rice or gives a piece of meat or a portion of beans. It’s enough that we are never wanting.’” [p.84]")
![“Among the dozens of statues were interspersed a droopy cement shack or two, looking like oversized sand drip castles.” [p.85]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-035w.jpg "“Among the dozens of statues were interspersed a droopy cement shack or two, looking like oversized sand drip castles.” [p.85]")
![“‘But there are many antennas. Among them there are those which are called master antennas, receiving antennas, distribution antennas, filtering antennas, well antennas, basin antennas, spring antennas. Then there are male antennas and female antennas, you see?’” [p.84]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-040w.jpg "“‘But there are many antennas. Among them there are those which are called master antennas, receiving antennas, distribution antennas, filtering antennas, well antennas, basin antennas, spring antennas. Then there are male antennas and female antennas, you see?’” [p.84]")
![“‘I think those which attract more attention are the antennas, such as this one here, which is called a XS Gala Galastera antenna, responsible for all of the electricity for the other pieces.’” [p.84]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-038w.jpg "“‘I think those which attract more attention are the antennas, such as this one here, which is called a XS Gala Galastera antenna, responsible for all of the electricity for the other pieces.’” [p.84]")
![“After the windows, she unlocked the barn’s storage rooms – the inner sanctums – where thick white-washed concrete shelves supported the weight of hundreds of full plastic bottles, along with row upon row of sacks of staples, cement, clothes, bedding, and mattresses: the ultimate in doomsday survival storage.” [p.86]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-041w.jpg "“After the windows, she unlocked the barn’s storage rooms – the inner sanctums – where thick white-washed concrete shelves supported the weight of hundreds of full plastic bottles, along with row upon row of sacks of staples, cement, clothes, bedding, and mattresses: the ultimate in doomsday survival storage.” [p.86]")
![“What a generous, entrepreneurial, and risk-taking faith, here in the old Dense Forest region of Brazil. Something about vast, empty interiors seems to motivate extraordinary human efforts.” [p.84]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-036w.jpg "“What a generous, entrepreneurial, and risk-taking faith, here in the old Dense Forest region of Brazil. Something about vast, empty interiors seems to motivate extraordinary human efforts.” [p.84]")
![“Looking up, she said, ‘When you receive a spiritual mission, my son, your relatives let go of you. They don’t accept it, it’s very difficult. Have you ever seen the case of a person who’s on a spiritual mission, where the relatives help? It’s very difficult.’” [p.85]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-029w.jpg "“Looking up, she said, ‘When you receive a spiritual mission, my son, your relatives let go of you. They don’t accept it, it’s very difficult. Have you ever seen the case of a person who’s on a spiritual mission, where the relatives help? It’s very difficult.’” [p.85]")
![‘Only here,’ she paused to say with a sudden laugh, ‘difficult is not to say impossible!’ ‘That’s right,’ I replied, finally understanding, ‘it isn’t.’ [p.87]](https://backroadsbrazil.com/wp-content/gallery/dona-romana/Tocantins704-026w.jpg "‘Only here,’ she paused to say with a sudden laugh, ‘difficult is not to say impossible!’
‘That’s right,’ I replied, finally understanding, ‘it isn’t.’ [p.87]")
“For only then, in the open space of her laugh, did I realize the source of Natividade’s diffuse cloud of light that had mystified me since first approaching this small, obscure town near the geographic center of Brazil – it could only be one more manifestation of Dona Romana’s divine inspiration, the triumph of faith over hope.” [p.87]
Now, more than a decade after my visit, Dona Romana has become famous in the most modern way: she’s the inspiration behind a soap-opera character named Mercedes, in TV Globo’s recent novela “O Outro Lado de Paraíso” [The Other Side of Paradise].