The warrior and sacred rite between the cabocla Joana D’arc and the indigenous women on an island in the São Francisco River

Abstract

This study addresses the rite of Joan of Arc in a war against indigenous women experienced in a rural black community in the Brazilian semiarid region, as one of the many forms of expression of black culture located, more specifically, on an island in the São Francisco River. The study aimed to analyze the ritual patterns guided by its creator as indications of gender, religiosity and warrior identity of the community involved. Taking as a parameter the experience of a warlike clash that was capable of bringing together all its inhabitants for a long time in its history, the celebration has always resorted to allegories produced in the community itself. The research resulted from a problem related to the permanence of tradition in rural black communities and their ancestral memories. This study presented and described excerpts from an extensive panel of festive and devotional experiences designed by the rural black community of the island of Massangano - PE, in the semiarid Northeast. The ethnographic study shows part of the trajectory of a people in their process of cultural, ethnic and historical re(existence), addressing the entire ritualization of their daily lives. The investigation provided, among other factors, an opportunity to understand the genesis of a war taught and rehearsed by the spirituality of the entities that protect the people who live there. With the sacred expression of the rite originating from spirit mediumship, represented by the communication between guides and entities, the results of the research indicated that, above all, the battle experienced in an island community in the Sertão do Médio São Francisco definitively strengthened affective, festive, identity, cultural, religious and memory ties among the Massanganos.