Entre marujas e marujos: recortes sobre o vestir no culto a São Benedito em Bragança (PA)

Abstract

The work is about the ways of dressing in the cult of Saint Benedict in the city of Bragança, Pará, Brazil. In 220 years of existence the cult was set up by conflicts with the official catholic church, but mainly by the effort of the members of the Brotherhood of the Glorious Saint Benedict of Bragança, founded in 1798. In this study the history of the city, the brotherhood and the cult are the background for a research on clothing and the importance of the dressing aspect in different moments in which the saint is honored, since the period of pilgrimage, to rehearsals, masses, processions and official dance performances.The discussion stages begin with a bibliographic survey of academic studies that have been published as books, theses or dissertations on the topic. Then, the work goes deeper in the study of the clothes used in different events of the cult of the saint. In addition, the experience inside the workplaces/houses of an artisan and a seamstress from Bragança, who manufacture clothes and acessories for the people called « marujas » and « marujas », is an important factor in the research. The workplaces, seen as a space of poetic construction, moves a writting process inspired by the act of sewing and investigated by the ethnomethodology. The climax of the research is the moment of practical experimentation described by the author, who makes her own clothes and hat, using the techniques learned from these hardworking and devout women from São Benedito. The filmed material made during the first research stages resulted in the documentary entitled "Among Marujas and Marujos", produced in the immersion held in December 2017 and which integrates part of the work in the search for a hybrid final presentation format. Having the audiovisual material as support for the development of theoretical and ethnographic thinking.