Descripción
The island of São Luis is the only Brazilian city established by the Frenchmen, under the command of Daniel La Touche, and up to today it has the biggest and most homogeneous architectural colonial set of Portuguese origin. The typically Portuguese influences of the village in its colonization gave rise to a diversified culture being influenced also by black men and Indians which is emphasized in the folklore traditions, legends, myths as well as in the religious syncretism from generation to generation. In this cultural context, a research was done to investigate how grandparents and grandchildren belonging to the ludovicenses families note and live the process of transmission of cultural and family values. Initially, individual interviews were done with 10 grandmothers and 10 grandchildren. Upon analysis of the content of the interviews, the topics were grouped and created a questionnaire which was applied to 31 ludovicenses grandmothers and 83 grandchildren (41 grandsons and 42 granddaughters). The data obtained through the same were quantified. The data obtained through the same were quantified. The principal results concerning the grandmothers were: 1) as to the meaning of the grandchildren predominated they are my second children and love ; 2) the participation in the life of the grandchildren happens through conversations; 3) the most frequent activities are the visits; 4) the family is what they consider to be the most important thing about São Luis- MA; 5) to emphasize to their grandchildren how valuable education is; 6) as to the particular traditions of the family they considered Christmas, New Year s Day, birthdays to be family festivities ; 7) the grandchildren accept well and participate in everything concerning the family traditions; 8) did not realize any difference between the genders as to the traditions of the family; 9) expect that the grandchildren preserve the union of the family; 10) the differences and similarities between their generation and their grandchildren s, concerning the fact that the grandchildren say what they want, have freedom of expression; 11) and lastly they pointed out that the feelings experienced as grandparents are what they learn from their grandchildren daily. As to the grandchildren, the following was observed: 1) the grandmothers meant wisdom and experience; 2) the conversations were predominant as to the participation and activities done with their grandmothers; 3) what they most transmit to their grandmothers were the games and conversations; 4) the grandchildren, as well as their grandmothers, consider the family to be the most important thing about São Luis; 5) the family traditions are lunches at weekends; 6) showed that their grandmothers accept and
receive such traditions very well; 7) consider preserving the teaching their grandmothers passed on to them; 8) as to the differences and similarities among the generations, they
reported that in their grandparents time there was more oppression and today everything is more liberal; 9) to take blessings is among the values which changed with the passing time 10) and they think that being grandchildren is to learn from their grandparents. We hope that with the present work we can contribute to the literature about the ludovicense family and to offer subsides to the professionals interested in it.
