THE CROSS THAT ERASES ANCESTRAL TRACES – EVANGELICAL CONVERSION AND THE DISFIGUREMENT OF INDIGENOUS IDENTITY IN BRAZIL

Abstract

The research analyzes the impact of evangelization on the religious practices and belief systems of indigenous peoples, evidencing the erasure of ancestral rituals and mythologies. The advance of evangelical missions promotes a reconfiguration of indigenous identities, often associated with the denial of traditional cultural elements. This phenomenon reflects a process of symbolic colonization, in which Christian religiosity imposes itself as the only legitimate way of faith. That said, the study discusses the tensions between tradition and religious conversion. In this way, we seek to understand the effects of this dynamic on the resistance and resignification of indigenous spiritualities. The guiding question is: how has the evangelical influence transformed traditional indigenous religious practices and the disfigurement of their identity? The theoretical foundation dialogues with authors Turner (1974), Douglas (1991), Sahlins (1990; 2003), Evans-Pritchard (2004), Geertz (2017), Hellern et. al. (2012), Lévi-Strauss (2012), Eliade (2012), Castro & Cunha (1993), Castro (2002; 2014), among others. Methodologically, the research is qualitative from Minayo (2006), descriptive and bibliographic according to Gil (2006) and with a comprehensive bias from the perspective of Weber (1964). The findings of the research demonstrate that evangelization profoundly impacts indigenous belief systems, leading to the suppression of ancestral rituals and the delegitimization of traditional cosmologies. However, processes of resistance and resignification are also observed, in which Christian elements are incorporated into indigenous spiritualities without their essence being completely erased. Religious conversion does not occur in a homogeneous way, being crossed by local dynamics and cultural mediation strategies. Furthermore, the phenomenon reveals the persistence of tensions between tradition and modernity, evidencing the multifaceted character of contemporary indigenous identities.