Foliões mensageiros: memórias e narrativas das comitivas de esmolação do Glorioso São Benedito de Bragança/PA

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to understand the interaction processes of the almsgiving delegations from the Glorioso São Benedito from Bragança, city in the northeast of Pará state, their memories and narratives. Characterized as a manifestation of resistance of popular culture in the Amazon, marked by sonority and the hybridity between the sacred and the profane, these groups are configured through a practice known as almsgiving of the saint, in which three processions, formed mostly by men, they travel to various locations around the city of Bragança, located 210 kilometers from Belém, taking images of São Benedito to the houses of devotees in the region with songs and prayers, received in a festive atmosphere. To understand the constitution of memory and narratives present in this manifestation, the research will use the theories of Le Goof (2003) and Motta (2013). Regarding the origin of Benedictine devotion, meanings, symbologies and concepts of this rite both for members of the delegations and for the saint's devotees, the work will draw on studies by Silva (1997), Eliade (2010) and Fernandes (2011), in addition to other authors who portray the construction of social representations.