As escutas do filho de santo sobre a morte: entre o silêncio do ocidente moderno e a fala do candomblé

Abstract

This paper aims to comprehend how the followers of candomblé deal with the reality of death. The initial steps began by comparing the modern occidental cultures and the candomblé in the practice of death rituals. The main theoretical fundaments to the modern occidental cultures received the influence of Philippe Ariès and Jean Baudrillard. To the Candomblé the contribution came from Monique Augras and Reginaldo Prandi. An investigation of the representation of death in the West, from middle age until our days, intended to register the several faces showed by death along human history, even the loss of this face, ending up in its exclusion of modern life. The asepsis of death tutored by the medical science and the fastness of funeral rituals were the counterpoint to the comprehension of the meaning of death for candomblé and its complex rituals of initiation and death. Services relied on the permanent system of symbolic exchanges based on this religion. We brought to this issue the vision of psychology in its dimension of cultural product and we searched to understand through the fenomenology how a believer of candomblé , a person of the of the XXI century, walks between these two cultures side by side with so different experiences and their meanings on this subject. The epistemological support was found in the study of the work of Monique Augras and Mauro Martins Amatuzzi. The research field was developed during two years at the Axé Baraleji , a place located around of the Federal District under the command of Babalorixá Tito de Omolu . During this period, the Ialaxé Verinha de Oxum of that community died. This fact gave us the opportunity to observe a death ritual which is called axexé that lasted seven consecutive days. We also had the description of an initiation ritual that was experienced by the researcher. At last, we received the valuable contribution of four saint s sons experiences. Their participation time in the rituals varied between eight and twenty years. All of them were submitted to the services of initiation and attended to the axexê ritual that took place in that community. From this encounter of voices, of living experiences in the rituals - rebirth (initiation) and death (axexê s ritual), we can come to the conclusion that the person that was initiated in the candomblé practice is a synthesis since he accumulates different knowledge and experiences and before descarting them, as a rule of modern world, he embraces them in order to take part in a world system which is more favorable to him. The Candomblé is a religion that although it is inserted in the modern world, it preserves its fundaments and ancient traditions, including the face of death where it is not ignored, but it takes part permanently in the exchange lives system.