Crossroads, territories and religious patri- mony: about the sweetness as a cultural refe- rence in the Iemanjá and Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes celebrations on Laranjal beach, Pelotas/RS, in 2007

Abstract

This ethnographic study analyses
the religious celebration that takes place every
year on the February 2nd in Pelotas, the offi-
cial holiday of Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes.
These celebrations were researched in Laranjal ́s
lacustrines beaches and at the Z3 fishermen set-
tlement located at the east coast, which is fin-
ched by Lagoa dos Patos in Pelotas. The whole
analysis is interposed by the notion of “Encruzi-
lhada” (or “Crossroads”), suggested by José Car-
los Gomes Anjos as a replacement to the notion
of syncretism, with the aim to consider multiple
entities and some kinds of religious manifesta-
tions that cross each other during the celebra-
tion. That concept is based on the reflection
about the ways in which the African Religious
Cosmovision works with difference. Moreover
this Cosmovision allows the perception of how
much this logic isn ́t restricted to the “terreiras”
(or “lawns”) but interposes identitary strategies
from groups apparently so contrastive as the ca-
tholic community and the “people of religion”.