Paróquia São Francisco de Assis

This guide to the Paróquia São Francisco de Assis in São Paulo traces a nearly four-century-old ritual at its gate on Rua Riachuelo, where Franciscan friars who settled at Largo São Francisco in the sixteen hundreds begged for bread and drink only to hand it back to whoever needed it more. You'll hear why tea, of all things, became the donation of choice, and how paulistanos started calling the custom by its ingredient. It also follows the Saturday tradition of meat from pigs the friars raised themselves behind these walls.