A festa do Çairé e a resistência indígena: uma experiência ancestral dos Borari em Alter do Chão, Santarém, Pará

Abstract

This study deals with an analysis of the existence of elements of indigenous shamanism, manifested through ritual practices, beliefs and myths that intertwine with the elements of Christianity in the party of Çairé, in Alter do Chão, Pará, as a form of resistance to the dictates of the Church and the morality of modern society. It concentrates on the intention of identifying the artistic and cultural elements present in the manifestation of this celebration, through rites, dances, musicality, food, litanies, faith and devotion that cross through all the symbols that make up this popular festival of religious / profane , referring to a poetry of popular religiosity. The Çairé is a secular festival introduced in the Amazon by the Jesuit priests who, faced with difficulties in the work of evangelization of the natives, invented and / or adapted an instrument with vines, ribbons, mirrors and biscuits as a way to seduce the natives by mixing elements of European culture as the precepts of Christianity with elements of indigenous culture such as dance and musical instruments, besides, of course, the ludic movement characteristic of the natives. This research assumes an interdisciplinary perspective of dialogue with Anthropology, Philosophy, Art, History and Religion, highlighting the gender relations with emphasis on the historical male domination and female protagonism. The protagonism is taken in this thesis as conceptual fragment, from social practices of direction and leadership exerted by women in the ambit of the Çairé festivities. The field work was carried out under the contribution of qualitative approaches, having as methodological inspiration the ethnography allied to the principles of oral history. The results reveal that the purpose of the negation of indigenous paganism by the Portuguese colonizing project, presenting God, the cross and eternal salvation through the symbolism of the Holy Trinity, found resistance from the natives within the party of the Abrei. Resistance appears within the manifestation of the Çairé in a polytheistic form, bringing together elements of indigenous paganism, especially of its mythology. The central point of what we are calling paganism is the figure of the shaman or healer along with the taruba, sacred drink, central in the indigenous religious rituals.