Exu: sacred and profane

Abstract

This study resume contributions of Georges Bataille, Pierre Verger, Edgar Morin, Ronilda Iyakemi Ribeiro, Stefania Capone, Monique Augras with the purpose of discussing Exu as the Nagô God of the  terrace Umbanda, showing different personality ways: ambiguous and paradoxical, male and female, sacred and profane. Exu (He/She) was - in this religious view - responsible for to organize the universe, has a virulent, cheeky and shameless characteristics. Exu comes to the world with a magic club, metonymy of his erect phallus (penis). For it, he shocks decorum, morality, and Christianity. These elements embarrass the norms, shuffles the well-defined dichotomies of the West traditions and epistemologies. It breaks with the taboos and establishes a new order, erotic-sacred action that alludes to the tree of life and the fertile enjoyment of Exu. Then, who incites (excites) to Life is Exu, a God trickster to invite: come. In this works will be used different texts genres, such as tale, poem, painting, Researching a dangerous ambivalent such as Madame Satã, Maria Navalha and Zé Pelintra, Exu’s face: transvestite, naughty, erotic-sacred, hybrid, whose continuous metamorphoses Plagiarized itself, like it is easily found on trans calendar.

Keywords: Exu, Sacred, Profane, Trickster.