Abençoada cura: poéticas da voz e saberes de benzedeiras

Abstract

This research proposes to enter into this double universe: the magical / religious aspect of the knowledge of the benzedeiras and the role of the word as an element of healing. This hybrid knowledge, of which only these are knowledgeable, is present and performative in the instant, in which visible and invisible will compose the words of the healers, who modify, transform and update their knowledge of healing as a form of resistance. From the prayers pronounced in the healing rituals, they performatize the word, the voice, the narrations and memories. The goal is to reach this source of knowledge existing in orality, the blessing, unveiling this knowledge, because more than the literal meaning, words have the power to heal, without the need to have a defined function, as well as being a knowing transmitted in contexts in which the poetics of the voice is present. It is through the theoretical analysis of texts, ethnobiography and participant observation that we seek to approach the field of action of the healers in the cities of Natal, Parnamirim and Mossoró RN. It was observed that this knowledge, contrary to what one imagines, has been updated as a survival of a healing power and of knowledge that is perpetuated by time in the hands and performances of women who perform it over the years as an office.