Sangue, Leite e Quarentena: Notas etnográficas sobre o puerpério na cidade de Melgaço, Pará

During the months I lived in Melgaco, a small town in the marajoaran part of the State of Para (Brazil), three women made an impact on me. They wandered around town barefeet, uncombed and always with the same clothes, thorn and wrinkled. It was explained that their puerperal blood had gone up their heads . In the present article, I describe this pathological state, main result of an uncared post-delivery quarantine. In this sense, I describe a set of rules related to behavior, diet and breastfeeding, which are supposed to avoid such state. An illustrative conflict between a girl who had recently given birth and her sister helps to show how a complex group of factors come together during this recovery period. This makes quarantine a constant challenge faced by women and their families in the town of Melgaco.