O SAGRADO E O PROFANO NAS TRADICIONAIS FESTAS RELIGIOSAS BRASILEIRAS: A FESTA DO SANTÍSSIMO SALVADOR

Abstract

The general objective of this dissertation is to analyze the Feast of the Most Holy Savior - Patron of the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, located in the north of the state of Rio de Janeiro, considering the sacred and the profane, considering that the municipality has its origin in the colonial period. In this sense, a study was proposed to emphasize the aspects (sacred, profane, contradictory, among others) that mark the Traditional Religious Festivals of the Catholic Church, considered forms of religious and cultural manifestations of a population. Thus, the theoretical framework contemplates several approaches ranging from the colonial period, with the occupation of the territories and the catechization of the natives through the Catholic Church, to the historical recovery of the religious tradition of the Feast of the Most Holy Savior, which has social relevance for the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes. The present dissertation is a qualitative research, exploratory, descriptive and explanatory, carried out through a bibliographical survey, based on authors such as: Júlio Feydit, Hervé Salgado Rodrigues, Mircea Eliade, Salvador Pié-Ninot, Eduardo Hoornaert, Émille Durkheim, Elaine Senise Barbosa, Mary Lucy Del Priore, Huston Smith, Horácio Sousa, among others. It was also used vast iconographic material existing in the historical collection related to the Feast of the Most Holy Savior, considering that the images presented are information necessary to reach the objective proposed by the present study. It was also decided to conduct a field research, conducted by questions previously elaborated and applied through a questionnaire, to portray the perceptions of two Catholic religious - Father Márcio André dos Santos Ribeiro (parish priest) and the religious member and historian of the Third Venerable Order of St. Francis of Assisi in Campos dos Goytacazes, Minister of the Poor Oswaldo Barreto de Almeida - about the historical and religious relevance of this feast, especially as regards the sacred and profane understanding portrayed in this specific event. Finally, the research concluded that the tradition of the Feast of the Most Holy Savior for the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes is highly representative and occupies a place of centrality in what refers to the devotion of the Catholic population to the figure of the transfigured Christ. In addition, the tradition of the party reaches the present times adapting itself to the transformations of the society, aiming to conciliate the sacred and the profane, in a peaceful way, in the space where it is realized.