A PRESENÇA DO SAGRADO NA GASTRONOMIA DE UMA RELIGIÃO DE MATRIZ AFRICANA

Abstract

The act of eating is closely linked to religions. The ritual involved in the eating process indicates one of the most significant moments in the relationship between followers of a religion with the sacred. This research aimed to understand the importance of gastronomy and its relationship with food offerings in the sacred space of an Afro-Brazilian religion, notably Candomblé. In the specific case of this research were observed the food practices transformed into offerings for the Orixás. This Afro-Brazilian religiosity materializes faith by offering food to the Orixás. The foods are celebrated in specific culinary procedures within the Candomblé gastronomy. Given this scenario, this study delimited as a research problem the following question: To what extent, in Candomblé, can the food understood as Santo's food represent meanings and configure itself as an element of identity and connection with the sacred? In order to answer this problem, the religious context was defined as hypothesis, influenced by the symbolic functions of religion, in this case, Candomblé, which permeate the notion of food, such as: commensality and communion; autonomy and deconditioning; and food as a religious time marker. Among the specific objectives are: to observe the feeding practices transformed into offerings for the Orixás; present a study of this religion from food; analyze the sacred in the gastronomy and food of Candomblé through the offerings and foods of Santo. The research methodology followed the bibliographic and descriptive scope for the construction of the fundamental theoretical argumentation. Therefore, the following theoretical categories were analyzed: religion, food, sacred and profane.