Rezadeiras de Itabaiana/SE : entre herança cultural, a modernidade e os rituais de cura

Abstract

This master s degree thesis is a ethnographic study on the religious works practiced by the female faith healers in the city of Itabaiana/SE. I attempt to show how these people exercise their cure practices in the several believers through the use of prayers and symbols such as the branch, the water, the oil, etc. Armed with these symbols, the female faith healers perform their healing rituals in private, within their own homes or in some other location such as the backyard, thus free from the interference of religions considered as official. In this research, besides of orality, we also relied on theoretical research of classical anthropology authors, as well as on contemporary authors. Therefore, this study shows that the female faith healers guide their life trajectory inside the popular Catholicism; however, they exercise their healing practices autonomously, fluidly, through symbolic exchanges and religious exchanges among the various spheres of popular and institutionalized religions.