Material culture as a document: the constant information in jurema's religious artifacts

Abstract

Objective: Considering material culture as a potential source of information representation, we seek to reflect on material culture in the religious context of Jurema, recognizing in it not only its symbolic character, but also its function in the ritualistic context and mnemonic role, contributing to the identity construction of religion.
Methodology: We understand religion as a symbolic system, in which objects (artifacts) are signs endowed with meanings and symbologies in the context of that system. For that, we consult the bibliographic references on the subject, in order to understand the nuances and meanings that the information contained in these objects provide about Jurema, in dialogue with the data collected in field research, based on the participant observation methodology.
Results: The liturgical objects that most expressed information during the research were the pipe, the images of Catholic saints and the tronqueira of Jurema, observed in a temple in Umbanda and Jurema in the city of Santa Rita (Paraíba).
Conclusions: We perceive the vitality of material culture and as a document whose retained information expresses Jurema's memory, which reveals historical, sacred and identity aspects of religion.