A territorialização da cultura do Santo Daime em Palmas

Abstract

Santo Daime, also known as the Religion of the Forest, a Brazilian religious pratice originating from the state of Acre, is characterized by the ritualistic use of ayahuasca, a psychoactive drink derived from a mixture of the vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the leaf of Psychotria viridis, which has been used for thousands of years by indigenous peoples in the Amazon region. The drink, sacralized by its users, functions as a kind of connection with the spirit world, and is also symbolized as a element for healing. In the Daime ritual, we observe symbolic elements of other religious and spiritual traditions, such as shamanism, popular Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritism, and afro-Brazilian religions. The doctrine, more specifically the sect of Father Sebastian (Padrinho Sebastião)- the Cefluris/Iceflu line- reveals the impact of globalization and the processes of hybridization in the formation and resignification of Santo Daime. In the rural zone of the city of Palmas, the capital of the state of Tocantins, there is a religious Daime group known as the Church of the Ceu do Cerrado, located at the country property Nova Dimensão. The objective of this study was to understand the process of territorialization of the Santo Daime culture in Palmas, TO. As such, we utilized the research technique of participant observation, in addition to focusing on the oral history provided in interviews with the followers of the church. Through an interdisciplinary lens, encompassing themes such as culture, territory, and identities, we analyse theoretically the field of religious ayahuasca, as well as: the way in which the Céu do Cerrado church was established in the city; its formation and the symbolic systems involved; the production of territorialities at the intersection of the city with the forest; and the ways in which the religious identities have been produced and reinforced within the group We observe that the group establishes a connection with nature, expressed within the ritual itself, and seeks to recreate a space which reconstructs the forest with sustainability and replanting practices, including the plants used to make ayahuasca. In light of the narratives provided, we perceived that the Daime followers of Céu do Cerrado represent themselves through the production of hybrid identities, characterized by Christian, ayahuasaca, Spiritist, and shamanic tracesidentities which negotiate the urban with the symbolic territory of the forest. The followers represent themselves with the discourse and practices of valuing nature and sustainability, and with identities immersed in a constant movement between tradition and translation. We note, on the other hand, the miniscule number of studies produced in Tocantins related to ayahuasca religions and to ayahuasca itself, and we believe that the production of other studies tends to highlight minority groups stigmatized by the general population and the media, due to their association with the use of drugs and the negative connotation this word carries. As such, the present study seeks to insert the Céu do Cerrado group into the field of cultural studies, contemplating all of its diversity.