A limpeza do Sagrado: um ensaio fotográfico sobre gênero e cuidado em um terreiro de Umbanda

Abstract

This work presents the description of the execution and the final product of an experimental project, a photographic essay entitled “The Cleaning of the Sacred”. The objective of the work is to discuss, through the photographic images, the relationship between gender and care in a Umbanda terreiro, especially in the sacred moment of ritualistic cleaning of the terreiro, which involves the maintenance and cleaning of sacred images and other objects and the feast of delivery of the year to the orixás. The work was developed through a bibliographical review, interviews with Mãe Suzana, head of the house and accompanying the rituals in the terreiro “Templo de Umbanda Pai Oxóssi”, in the city of Santa Maria, Southern Brazil. As a result, the work presents a photographic essay that is followed by descriptions that register different perspectives of the analyzed ritual, emphasizing the sacred work of Mãe Suzana and the gender and care relations that permeate the ritual.