“Segura na mão de Deus e vai...”: etnografia dos rituais de despedida na cultura fúnebre do Crato-CE/Brasil

Abstract

This study addresses the subject of the death rites in the urban context of the city of Crato, which is located in the metropolitan region of the Cariri in the State of Ceará, Brazil. Our intention is to discuss the countryside experience from the death cerimonial acts that occur in the scenario of a medium-size city. It is focused on discussing the contemporary processes of familiarity with death, which is established by (i) death locations; (ii) the referrals to the funeral homes and burial; (iii) the differences seen before death; (iv) the deceased person in the ritualistic establishment; and (v) the development of the death care industry in the aforementioned urban context. In order to carry this out, the participant observation method was adopted as a data collection method, which enabled the accompanying of the accomplished procedures and rituals. We aimed to understand the various elements that make up such funeral traditions by taking into consideration all of the death-related aspects of the city. The ethnography begins by the following of the memorial services in the funeral homes of the city in question as well as of the burial ritual. We observed a dynamics in the events and its differences, especially in the ritualistic establishments and in the social treatment given to the deceased body. Therefore, we pondered how the funeral traditions are conditioned to: (i) the individual´s status, (ii) the cause of death and (iii) the death market, where the city acts as a manufacturing space of a funeral tradition that acts on existing social class segmentation and differences.