Ethnographic itinerances in the Mulungu community: the party as a space for sociability

Abstract

The festivity is not just a folkloric, exotic, immutable event since it provides experience exchanges among individuals reaffirming the bonds of affection, religiousness and sense of belonging. It is a place where people feel linked in a social context, recreating bonds through the celebrations without having an obligation to give something back in exchange to the shared moments during the festivities. So the Jiro do Reis and the celebration in honor of São Sebastião in Mulungu’s community are a place of gathering bringing together people who are in constant movement when they pray, dance and sing in the sacred space of the house. Doing so, they reinforce the identity of a group, a community, as well as contribute to the production of a large amount of energy that is redistributed to all participants in a process of metamorphosis over time. I tried to understand the Jiro do Reis and the celebration in honor of São Sebastião as a cultural practice that reestablishes faith and reinforces the religious sense of belonging when people come together to celebrate life and praise the Gods. Ethnographic research was my methodological choice since it seems to be the best option to translate the daily routine and the special events that lead us to an understanding of reality between the festivities, the beliefs, the ways of living that are shared by the individuals and their community.