Origins of the ritual
The tradition dates the first formal Santo Daime work to May 6, 1930, a Concentration held in Mestre Irineu's own home with a small circle that included his first follower, José das Neves. In the ritual's earliest years it was held on Saturdays, while Wednesdays were reserved for healing sessions of a similar, simpler form. Only in 1963 did the Concentration move to its present schedule of the 15th and 30th of each month.
Early accounts describe Mestre Irineu presiding over a small group seated around a table bearing a Cross of Caravaca, teaching largely through spoken instruction as the doctrine's hymns and practices took shape around him.
The form of the work today
Concentration is held in a blue uniform and centers on a long period of seated, silent meditation at the height of the Daime's effects, rather than on dancing or an extended sequence of hymns. It is often described within the community as the doctrine's most basic and foundational work — the setting in which members are understood to receive personal understanding that is later put into practice in the danced hinário works.
The work commonly draws on a hymn collection called Concentração, which opens with the hymn Oração and closes with Cruzeirinho, among the last hymns Mestre Irineu received. Since 1970, sessions have also included a reading of the Decree of Service, a text dictated by Mestre Irineu and recorded by Percília Matos — considered the only document he left in his own words.
The New Hymns
In 1968, the Concentration began to close with a hymn sung regularly for the first time — number 117 of Mestre Irineu's hinário, "I Give Viva to God in the Heights" — which opened a later series of his hymns known as the New Hymns. These continue to be sung at the close of Concentration works today.