"THE CROSSROAD: THE THEATER AND THE CITY IN THE 'Encomendação das Almas' IN SÃO JOÃO DEL-REI".
São João del-Rei, Encomendação das Almas, Theater and Urban Space
With this research, it is proposed to observe, through the study of the Catholic ritual "Encomendação das Almas" and its records in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, aspects related to the intertwining of the city, ritual and culture of São João. The "Ordering of Souls" ritual is not exclusive to the city of São João del-Rei. However, in the municipality in question, this occurs in a different way in relation to other Brazilian states that have documented and studied this ritual. In this way, the "Order of Souls" becomes an important object of study for two points: first, because it is poorly documented; and, secondly, by demonstrating how the same ritual of common origin can change and have different approaches depending on the way it is performed. Here, in the present research, the interest falls on the spectacular relations between ritual and the city. To enable the research of the chosen object, the methodology was developed based on the observations and monitoring of the Ritual of "Ordering the Souls” carried out in 2020, in the analysis of documents (scores, brotherhood books, wills, etc.) and a bibliographic survey. The research method used will be qualitative, as it allows exploring and understanding the ritual through memories and document analysis, in addition to the observation of the research object, enabling a greater understanding of the existing relationships between the processes involved in such devotion.