O útil, o sagrado e o mais-que-sagrado no Xangô de Pernambuco

Abstract

Resumo O sagrado e o útil encontram-se intimamente associados no Xangô de Pernambuco. O processo de iniciação coincide largamente com a busca da cura, enquanto os sacrifícios são ao mesmo tempo bons para rezar e para comer. Não existe portanto, ao contrário do que poderia pretender uma interpretação demasiadamente literal da sociologia da religião de Durkheim, uma separação radical entre o sagrado e o profano. Há entretanto, na experiência religiosa do Xangô, um momento em que o sagrado paira acima de toda análise funcional, transformando-se desta maneira no mais-que-sagrado, que transparece na festa e no transe extático. E é dessa experiência transcendente, implicando na comunhão emocional do grupo de culto, que surge a identidade mais íntima de cada fiel.

Misalignments: House money and inflationary experiences

“…As one of us has shown (Motta, 2014, 2023) the concept of house money provides a different view of domestic economic dynamics. As used by her interlocutors, it designates that parcel of money used to pay expenses considered to be essential to the house, and which therefore concern the collectivity that cohabits within it, usually treated as a ‘family’.…”

“…These strategies, however, require the coordination of various houses and a relation of trust between those participating, not only because someone needs to gather everyone’s money but also because knowledge of what is bought in one’s house can be delicate information between close people, subject to moral judgement, envy and feelings of rejection. As Motta (2023) has described, knowledge of what is in one’s fridge and the pantry, and how much a house spends on certain products, can result in moral evaluations of what gets served to whom, who is invited to eat, or on whether someone has the means to pay an outstanding debt with a friend or relative but chooses not to (yet buys and stores expensive or luxury items, for example).…”

“…Sales may occur occasionally or with some regularity, and at times, other residents of the house or of the configuration of houses help out. The key to describing the dynamics of houses during the inflation period, and particularly in the context of rising prices of foodstuffs and gas, is the concept of house money ( dinheiro da casa ), a native expression that allows us to investigate the meanings of money and monetary practices from the vantage point of domestic spaces (Motta, 2023). The concept of dinheiro da casa designates a moral and practical nexus between people, money, and house/s that values the commons or common needs for the maintenance of the house as a living processual space evoking expenses that are obligatory in nature and regular, as rent, services and food.…”