the feast day, whose origins lie in 16th century portugal, has been popularized in terra fluminense because of a legend surrounding a hilltop church in the zona norte - on a warm october day in 1635, a hunter who had ventured into the woods atop the then unsettled mount, was threatened by a huge snake.

in terror, he invoked nossa senhora da penha and immediately a large lizard emerged, lunged at the snake and biting its tail, chased it away.  recognizing the miraculous intervention, the hunter promised then and there to raise a chapel at the top of the hill in honor of our lady of penha.