Negra devoção: leitura da cosmologia Bantu “escrita com a luz” nas festas de N. Sra. do Rosário e São Benedito

Abstract

The devotion of those enslaved in Brazil to the so-called black saints, especially Our Lady of Rosary and Saint Benedict, began in Central Africa, particularly where Congo and Angola are today, before Cabral’s arrival to the land that would be Brazil. Unlike what is often called syncretism and defined as a simple replacement of icons, Catholicism that grew out of those brought from Africa as slaves had a much more complex and elaborated origin. It was this special Catholicism that unfolded in the feasts in devotion to the same saints that exist until today in all Brazil. This research intends, through a reading of photographs obtained over almost 10 years, to point out elements of this original African culture, of people that were called Bantu, showing how these elements are still present today. Studies on this religiosity, cosmology or spirituality, whatever the reader's preference, were made punctually, always focused on a community or city. The importance of this work is to bring a comparison of these parties in various regions of Brazil and to show Bantu presence in all of them