practiced. However, its essential theme remains the same, with a focus on the death and resurrection of an ox.

The principal figures include an ox, a white master (Cavalo Marinho, in Pernambuco), a black pregnant woman (Catirina), a Vaqueiro or cowboy (Mateus, Chico or Pai Francisco), other vaqueiros (cowboys), índios, índias and caboclos (indigenous people), a priest, and a doctor (or indigenous healers, pajés). The audience is also