Memória e tradição da ciência da Jurema em Alhandra (PB): a cidade da mestra Jardecilha

Abstract

The cult of the Holy Jurema is a knowledge tradition resulting from the connection of different cultural flows, coming from a ritualistic practice where its subjects work with creativity and fluidity. By organizing a dynamic and complex world, they have privileged places that express their cosmological universe which are called Cities of Jurema. These ‘cities’ refer to the spirits of its masters named “juremeiros” in where the city of Alhandra, located in the state of Paraiba, Brazil, concentrates these manifestations at a regional level. It also includes an idea of its total spiritual knowledge, the science of Jurema, which is operated by scientists – people with public acknowledge within the cult – and are applied in physical and spiritual healing. This is called by the “juremeiros” as a work of science, a tradition which is composed by a number of subjects that have been printed their legacy in the local collective memory. This work aims to conduct an ethnographic of narratives from the memories of one of these religious spaces – the City of Master Jardecilha. This place is directly associated with this important master “juremeira” and her religious practices. Even though she is not alive, this place still concentrates the memories of “juremeiros” and it is replete of multiple affectivities. Thus, this research aims to cover part of the life story of Master Jardecilha, investigating the dynamics of her spiritual work. Besides, it also analyses her influence as a religious leadership in the region, and the subjective representations of this place where she used to performed her spiritual works throughout the briefs of people who have experienced it in some way. In addiction to that, it opens to the possibility of studying the native category of science that is constantly evoked by “juremeiros” as the conjunction of all their knowledge, presented as a central element between themselves. Therefore, the methodology developed in this research was based on the literature, the participant observation and thematic interviews, not only in the life story of Master Jardecilha, but also about the science of Jurema. This approach was chosen in order to have the most diverse overview as possible from the “juremeiros”, due to the currently changes taking place nowadays in this religious field in the municipality, which is considered the “city of Jurema”.