Abstract

CAMPELO, Marilu Marcia  and  MONTEIRO, Alef. Psychism end initiation: notes about the initiation of children in Umbanda. Rev. NUFEN [online]. 2017, vol.9, n.1, pp. 108-126. ISSN 2175-2591.

The paper is a study about the umbandista religious ideal regarding the initiation of children which present or not latent psychic abilities. It discovers the many positions of observers before the religious trance experience in childhood. The aim is not about to create a discussion regarding religious trance and rapture in childhood, but outlining in what measure the representation of the umbandista ideal comes near or distances to the occidental representations about childhood and to demonstrate how the religion builds a place for the child from these symbolic elements which it interferes. For that, was used an ethnographic method that consists in participant observation, intensive interviews and documental analysis with a group of umbandistas in Rio de Janeiro. It is possible to find a sequence of contradictions between the religious conception about the innate spiritual abilities of the children and the contemporary society's idea about childhood, resulting in new adaptations on the dynamics of the group.

Keywords : Children; Psychic; Initiation; Umbanda; Religions of African Matrix.

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