slavenkerkhof 2

Some associate the origin of the expression Gundú... 

to the name of the Couro do Cervo stream, claiming that the expression is a reference to the skull of a deer without skin. 

Despite being plausible, we disagree with this interpretation because we understand that the skull that is being referred to by the expression Gundú is another. It is that of the black man killed and beheaded by João do Prado Leme, in the attack on a quilombo in the region of Chamusca in 1736. Quilombolas gave this name to the new quilombo that was formed west of the Chamusca region.

Rural workers [landarbeiders], simple, honest, religious people, worshipers of tradition pass on, through oral language, fragments of the memory they preserve until today. 

Thus, in some people, the idea remains that, on top of the stone wall that surrounds the Cemitério dos escravos, the Slave Cemetery, there were symbolic figures represented by birds, tools and work instruments, such as hammers, pincers [knijptangen], ladders and even nails, 'as those seen in the wrists of Jesus Crucified,' says an old man from over 100 years old.

It is interesting to note that these same elements appear drawn in the forecourt of the old Chapel of the Fazenda do Palmital do Cervo and in the oratory of the Fazenda Caxambu.

[bron]