Igreja e rua, dois espaços a mesma fé. Sacralização do espaço na festa de Corpus Christi

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the meaning of the Feast of Corpus Christi today, as well as its relation with space and religion. The main point of this work is to analyze this ceremony considering the ludic, the artistic, the perfomative and the ephemeral essence it holds. Corpus Christi is a thirteenth century catholic procession that celebrates Christ’s real and substantial presence in the Eucharist; it’s the day when the Blessed Sacrament it taken to a procession. The ethnographic setting to be covered in this paper is the celebration of this solemnity in N. Srª da Piedade Parish, in Mage, in the Rio de Janeiro State, and this essay will investigate the reasons and the meanings attributed to this art by those who make it. Considering that the Corpus Christi rugs are made on the street and belong to this context, one of the main points of this research has been to analyze this sacred-profane dichotomy, not as opposed categories but as interactive ones. Another aspect here covered is the production of the rug, so that the symbolic action of drawing holy pictures on this unusual space – the street – can be understood. Along with those multiple possibilities of analysis, the idea of “fest” and its collective effervescence character, which is able to freshen pacts and reinforce communion, will be discussed. All these categories - which are open to many different analyses -whenever it comes to the production of the rug or to the procession, are the ones who certify the uniqueness of this celebration.