Queima da Palinha<\/em>, Private home in S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds<\/p>\n The burning of the murta<\/em> herb is symbolic of the end of the Christmas season and the dismantling of he cr\u00e9che.\u00a0 It is also a celebration of the Christ child from whom blessings are sought.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The family and friends celebrate with a litany from a text that includes several devotional stages.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The actual queimada<\/em>, the burning, is done in an urn in the home, but there is a tremendous amount of smoke that is like incense.<\/p>\n Some readers may have experienced a 12th Night ceremony in the U.S. during which Christmas trees and wreaths are symbolically burned.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Nossa Senhora de Bel\u00e9m, Iguara\u00fa<\/strong><\/p>\n The photo below is of an umbanda<\/em> terreiro<\/em> in the community of Iguara\u00fa.\u00a0 It was not our destination, but worth a look because it is representative of a number of hybrid practices that contain some Christian elements mixed with other entities and practices.\u00a0 That is a cross in front, with the dove of the Espirito Santo just below the crest of the roof.<\/p>\n Aside from Saint Enofre, celebrated in both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, the figures on the wall represent various entities from other practices.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There are extensive connections in Maranh\u00e3o between practices in Catholicism and in other spiritual practices.\u00a0 The house of Saint Enofre honors Christian and<\/em> non-Christian figures.\u00a0 The church below has some features of an \u201cofficial\u201d Catholic church, but does not have a permanent priest or staff.\u00a0 The practice of honoring Our Lady of Bethelem is accompanied here by a churchman, but is also a part of what is here called \u201cpopular Catholicism\u201d \u2014 practices originating in the Church (perhaps as far back as the Middle Ages), but now carried by groups of devotees in homes and informal \u201cchurches.\u201d<\/p>\n Photos below are from such a community church in the community of Iguara\u00fa, not far from S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The festival of \u201cOur Lady of Bethlehem\u201d celebrates the life of Mary in that city.\u00a0 It is closely related to the nativity story and is at the close of the Christmas season (like the Queima da Palinha above).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Children are a central part of the ceremony \u2014 here throwing flowers to a girl dressed as Our Lady of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n An unusual part of the ceremony is in fact a second ceremony of drumming and singing\/dancing that is part of a tradition called tereco<\/em>.\u00a0 This part of the celebration lasted about an hour, but in heritage practice would go on all night, overshadowing the Christian ceremony before.<\/p>\n Here it was part of the joint celebration, followed by the universal religious sacrament of a table covered with cakes.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Queima da Palinha, Casa das Minas<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The end of the queimada<\/em> (burning) and close of the season of Christmas celebration.<\/p>\n Though Christians associate this sort of ceremony with an organized church, it is here celebrated in the Casa das Minas<\/em>, a house in the\u00a0jej\u00e9<\/em> tradition that traces its roots to 18th and 19th century Dahomey.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Celebration of S\u00e3o Sebasti\u00e3o<\/strong><\/p>\n Saint Sebastian is a complex figure in Maranh\u00e3o celebration.\u00a0 Historically the Catholic saint is revered as the 9th century Christian martyr.\u00a0 He is usually depicted pierced with arrows.<\/p>\n In the Casa das Minas he is associated with an entity known as Averequete\u00a0 In other traditions he may be associated with Ox\u00f3ssi (the hunter).\u00a0 In yet others he is fluidly connected to Rei Sebasti\u00e3o, the 16th century Portuguese who was lost in Morocco during the Crusades.<\/p>\n In one legend King Sebastion is reincarnated in the Dunes of Lenco\u00ecs in north Maranh\u00e3o.\u00a0 His enchanted figure appears on the dunes as a black bull with a red star on his head.\u00a0 This legend links many elements of the boi\/ox <\/em>in the lore of Maranh\u00e3o and is one of the connections of the heritage Bumba-meu-boi<\/em> celebration.\u00a0 This complicated set of links also involves S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o (Saint John) is often celebrated with a boi\/ox<\/em>.<\/p>\n Because of the diversity of practices and traditions, these various links are not codified, but fluid in the multiple oral traditions of Maranh\u00e3o.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The altar in the Casa das Minas<\/em>, with its mix of religious symbols and traditions.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A celebration of S\u00e3o Sebasti\u00e3o<\/em> (and maybe other entities) at the Casa de Iemanj\u00e1<\/em>, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The celebrations above all show the resilience and depth of devotion in S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds and Maranh\u00e3o in general.\u00a0 All of these celebrations are in the Christmas season or shortly thereafter, but none is held in an official church.\u00a0 A private home, an informal country church without a priest, and two different terreiros<\/em> that have a mix of practices.<\/p>\n The official Church has, in the view of some, \u201cabandoned\u201d these heritage practices but seems to have a general attitude of tolerance toward them.\u00a0 Evangelicals are increasing in number and are generally more aggressive toward the non-Christian practices since they honor a variety of non-Christian entities.\u00a0 These houses were once persecuted by the church and the police, but they are now protected under Brazilian law as legitimate religious practices..<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u201cPopular Catholicism\u201d is a term used in Maranh\u00e3o for practices that are not sanctioned or conducted within the official church.\u00a0 They are carried in the culture of faith and devotion of members of the community who continue the practices on their own Sometimes the practices are mixed with celebrations in terreiros, spiritual houses of … Continue reading Popular Catholicism: Faith and celebration outside the Church<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-folk-culture-and-spiritual-practice-in-maranhao-brazil"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1957,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions\/1957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"IMG_1186_DxO\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG_1186_DxO.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>