Abstract

AHLERT, Martina  and  LIMA, Conceição de Maria Teixeira. “Légua’s family are all by the threshing floor”: interactions between people and enchanted entities. Etnográfica [online]. 2019, vol.23, n.2, pp.447-467. ISSN 0873-6561.  https://doi.org/10.4000/etnografica.6858.

Terecô is an Afro-Brazilian religion found inland in Maranhão state, in the Northeast of Brazil. In this religious context, people coexist with enchanted beings who are received in rituals, through incorporation, but are also present in ordinary moments as physical sensations or through their belongings. This heterogeneous set of beings is organized in families, which are formed by blood ties and also by “respect”. Here on Earth they bond with people with “mediumistic” powers and with those around them. The article is focused in the relationships between people and enchanted beings, using as reference stories where those beings have a role in kinship affairs. Such stories involve births performed by those entities, weddings planned and announced by them, generational connections and inheritance following death. We work especially with the family of an enchanted being called Légua Boji Buá, seeking to draw attention to the principles governing the relations among those entities, their agency and the variety of forms by which they present themselves to people.

Keywords : relationship; enchanted entities; family; agency.

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