"Borboletas azuis" de Campina Grande: crenças, práticas e lutas de um movimento messiânico-milenarista.

Abstract

The "Borboletas Azuis" of Campina Grande city / PB/Brazil achieved national prominence and even worldwide, due to the spread of a prophecy that they claimed to have received from Jesus himself This prophecy to asserted a deluge, for the day 23 de may of 1980. The movement is a challenge to the Roman Catholic Church of Vatican II, from where measures have been taken in favor of liturgies more appropriate to local culture and language, as well as significant changes in the texts and languages used in the Mass and in the administration of the sacraments. The Borboletas Azuis proposes a revival of the model of primitive Christianity through the practice of charity, the delivery of God's love, in its messianic hopes to introduce a new "golden age". The religious identity of the movement is constituted by a kind of 'bricolage' of Christianity with spiritism. Because of its "eccentricities", ended generating a huge controversy that culminated in a double conflict: one with the local press and other with the Catholic Church. This study analyzes the imaginary of the "Borboletas Azuis", adopting a theoretical perspective inspired on studies about religion done by Weber, Bourdieu, Queiroz, Gidddens, Pierucci and Andrade. The methodology we used consisted in open interviews carried out with remaining believers and the analysis of local press articles and documents produced by their leaders. Among the main contributions of our work we stand out the following: the debate on the millenarist but pacific character of the Borboletas Azuis; the discussion on the symbolic strategies mobilized by believers in order to rebuild the meaning of the religious purpose, after the failure of the main prophecy.