BETWEEN BODY AND SPIRIT: HEALTH AND ILLNESS IN THE WORSHIP OF THE SACRED JUREMA

Abstract

This study investigates the interrelationships between health and spirituality in the worship of Jurema Sagrada, a religious tradition with a strong indigenous background in Northeastern Brazil. This study is justified by the limited academic visibility afforded to care systems originating from traditional peoples, still marginalized by biomedical and Eurocentric narratives (Mignolo, 2017; Bezerra et al., 2023). The central objective is to describe, through ethnographic logbooks, how ritualistic practices at Casa Mestre Zé do Beco, in Pesqueira, Pernambuco, articulate perceptions of health, illness, and healing. Based on insights from medical anthropology and critical decolonial theories (Ayres, 2004; Walsh, 2009), the work highlights Jurema as an ancestral technology that integrates body, spirit, and community, countering the fragmentation of the biomedical model. This is a report because it arises from my own writings as a researcher, both a Juremeiro and a nurse, based on field experiences, capturing subjective and symbolic dimensions of care that could not emerge through exclusively quantitative methodologies. The results, extracted from the diaries, reveal how Jurema rituals transcend the physical, establishing community spaces for listening, welcoming, and energetic replenishment. Such practices reaffirm Jurema as an intangible heritage and a political device of resistance, promoting comprehensive care that incorporates emotional, spiritual, and social well-being. It is concluded that valuing ancestral knowledge within the SUS (Brazilian Unified Health System) represents an act of epistemological justice, capable of expanding the possibilities for healing and strengthening historically vulnerable identities.