FEAST AND BORDERS: THE IN-BETWEEN CELEBRATIONS OF CONCEIÇÃO DAS CRIOULAS BLACK COMMUNITY

Abstract

This paper analyzes the links between feast, identity and resistance, based on the black community of Conceição das Crioulas. The theoretical approach is based in the border studies – which analyze spaces inbetween – to discuss three aspects: the Holy Saturday, the ceremony of Nossa Senhora da Assunção and the wide celebration dedicated to this saint. It aims to identify the feast’s role to the identity links, to the articulation with the ‘other’ and affirmation towards the «other». In the first place, I discuss about the fluidity of the border space through the celebration of Holy Week held in the exact geographical border that divides the black territory and the neighboring indigenous territory. Secondly, I analyze the ceremony of passage of testimony held on the celebration of Our Lady of the Assumption, when each subgroup that composes the community reaffirms its belonging. Finally, I present the role of Our Lady of the Assumption celebration as a statement to the outsiders, exploring this subject from the beginning of the community’s protagonism, to the great current dimensions of the feast.