SILVA, N. T.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/8712531837066029; SILVA, Naidilene Teófilo da.
Abstract:
The present work deals with the performance of the benzedeiras in the district of
Santa Luzia do Cariri - PB from a perspective whose attention is focused on
understanding how these practices of healing rituals are being performed through
the healers of that place. Our specific interests were: to identify the history of the
place so that we can temporarily and spatially situate our subjects, trying to
identify a possible relation of the cultural practices of these as a result of the marks
of continuity of the cultural expressions of the original peoples who inhabited the
micro-region of Cariri Paraíba; to analyze the practices of the women and men of
Santa Luzia do Cariri as a result of a continuous and dynamic process of
accumulation of popular knowledge, highlighting how they are constituted their
diverse rituals of magico-religious cures and the symbolic elements used in their
achievements, as well as identify which are the main diseases and healing
practices present in our research locus; and to research some speeches that are
elaborated on the benzedeiras, highlighting how in the Western world they were
presented within a framework of continuities and discontinuities, and, specifically,
focusing on the discursive utterances of the priest and the doctor of the place in
the sense of perceiving which representations these two subjects who hold
religious and scientific knowledge, respectively, reserve for the mourners. We
seek theoretical input in the field of Cultural History, especially in the articulations
of Thompson (1998) and Chartier (1990). The method used was qualitative
research (MINAYO, 1994) and the data collection was done through consultation
of a general bibliography and the memory of old people. The studies made it
possible to understand that this universe of healing involves the effective
participation of women and men with diverse histories and experiences, but which
resemble the simplicity and difficulties experienced. All are unanimous in asserting
that they belong to the Catholic religion, although they are at the margin of
institutionalized religion and perform their functions independently by establishing
their own rules of order in their healing practices. They are the culturally
characterized by their special power, able to control the physical, emotional and
spiritual imbalance through blessing. Finally, we understand the position of the
Catholic Church and the scientific medical knowledge about these practices, since
it is impossible to think of the separate validation of these two discourses.
