Ladies masters of the jurema: Party, prestige, performance

Abstract

This photographic essay focuses on recording the master ladies of the jurema in the rituals of festivals held in their honor, with the aim of encouraging reflections on how certain expressions of culture - gestures, emotions, hierarchies, prestige, power relations - are articulated in the performative flow of the festival.

The mestra and mestre are central spiritual entities in northeastern jurema. The religious practice of jurema is made up of a complex of conceptions and representations surrounding the plant that bears this name and is based on the cult of possession of the master entities and caboclos, whose aim is to cure the sick and solve the practical problems of everyday life, such as love and professional misfortunes

The research is part of a wider project to study Afro-religious intangible heritage in the city of Natal - RN. The locus is the terreiro communities that are part of mestre Benedito Fumaça's family, under the leadership of Pai Freitas. Each participating house holds an annual festival for its mestra/mestre, who corresponds to the house's leadership entity. In this universe, the celebration implies the presence of all the representatives of the houses that make up the family and their respective entities, who come down to celebrate.