O corpo na festa junina: reflexões simbólicas e estéticas para a Educação Física

Abstract

The month of June is one of the most anticipated periods of the year, by people living in the Brazilian Northeast. The reason for explaining all this euphoria is the result of the June festivals, which in turn is considered the most important event of the year, even when compared to the Christmas cycle. Nevertheless, many people who live this kind of festivity does not know for sure who Saint John is, many of the other phenomena that surround this event, how symbols and aesthetics can reveal amazing meanings and senses. Thus, this research sought to discuss some meanings of the symbolic and aesthetic elements present in the June Festival, investing in immersion in a corporeal experience, using Merleau-Ponty's method of phenomenology. To weave these meanings, a network of meanings was built through interviews, photos, videos, and the own symbolic and aesthetic senses attributed to these elements. Thus, in the first moment, it was invested in constructing some concepts on the parties revealing their relations with the time, with the sacred and profane. Still, a historical course was realized of June parties in intention to evidence the appearance of some symbolic elements during the time investigated. In the second part, by means of a corporeal experience in the festivities of Santa Cruz – PB, in 2016, some symbols present in the feast of Saint John were listed, as well as their meanings. Given the greatness of the June celebrations and the great number of symbolic and aesthetic elements present at the party in the following year in 2017, it was sought to experience other situations that revealed other symbols. This occasion gave opportunity to experience the dance that most symbolizes this type of party, the square dance. The corporal experience with the CIA Junina Luar square dance revealed other symbolic and aesthetic meanings that are imbricated in this type of dance. In the last part of the research, the body was approached as a sensitive sphere, something that was acquired in the experiences of the festivities and in the square dance. This session allowed us to return to some issues that we had already explained in previous sessions, making approximations with Physical Education. In general, the festive body was described as a mean of socialization and transmission of culture. Until then, some of the symbolic and aesthetic elements of the feasts of St. John have been identified, here attributing their meanings, which have close relations with the existence of man, with the sacred and the profane, with life in the countryside and in the city, and with the body, aiming to provide some discussions and contributions to the field of Physical Education. It is concluded that the corporeal experiences lived with the symbolic and aesthetic elements in the June celebrations can imprint in our body historical, social and cultural traces, building a tangle of knowledge through a sensible education.