Kongo Symbols, Catholic Celebrations: Adornment and Spiritual Power in Nineteenth-Century Religious Festivals in São Paulo, Brazil
This paper investigates the use of religious paraphernalia based on West Central African charms in the bodily adornment of participants commemorating the festival of Our Lady of the Rosary in late nineteenth-century São Paulo, Brazil. Our Lady of the Rosary constituted a popular patron saint fo...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
The Pennsylvania State University Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Journal of Africana religions
Year: 2020, Volume: 8, Issue: 2, Pages: 202-231 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
State
/ Rosenkranzfest
/ Congo
/ Folk religion
/ Symbol
/ Usage
/ History 1850-1900
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion AX Inter-religious relations BS Traditional African religions KBN Sub-Saharan Africa KBR Latin America KCD Hagiography; saints KDB Roman Catholic Church RC Liturgy TJ Modern history |
| Further subjects: | B
Popular Festivals
B Material Culture B Brazil B African Diaspora B Black Catholicism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This paper investigates the use of religious paraphernalia based on West Central African charms in the bodily adornment of participants commemorating the festival of Our Lady of the Rosary in late nineteenth-century São Paulo, Brazil. Our Lady of the Rosary constituted a popular patron saint for Black confraternities across imperial Brazil (1822-1889). During festivals for this patron saint, West Central African forced laborers and their descendants clad themselves and their children in fine clothes and conventional symbols of orthodox Catholicism, such as crosses and rosary beads, but also with locally sourced materials and objects including pacová, olho de cabra seeds, and jaguar teeth, which referenced or constituted symbols of authority and fertility in West Central Africa. Afro-Brazilians in the city of São Paulo crafted and wore material expressions of religiosity that demonstrated engagement with Catholicism and concurrent reliance on and public celebration of spiritual knowledge from West Central Africa. |
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| ISSN: | 2165-5413 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Africana religions
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