Viva as almas da barragem!: a construção da caminhada da seca em Senador Pompeu – CE (1982-1998)

Abstract

The present work aims to investigate the process of construction of the Dry Walk in Senador Pompeu (CE), pilgrimage created by the italian priest Albino Donatti in 1982. The celebration is based on the sanctification of the dead in the Concentration Camp f Patu (Campo de Concentração do Patu) in 1932, which by popular religiosity have become Souls of the Dam. In the city, the reports of survivor’s suffering and the presence of the ruins of the facilities contributed to create a symbolic field conducive to the development of the belief that takes thousands to the Cemetery of the Dam (Cemitério da Barragem), a monument ercted in the place where they were buried in mass graves, the dead of the dry. Its participants construct narratives that seek to legitimize their interests inside and outside the celebration, making it a space of conflicts and negotiations between the sacred and the politics. The temporal cut was established between the beginning of the Walk (1982) and the publication of the book Migalhas do Sertão (1998), authored by priest João Paulo Giovanazzi. When we study the subject’s relations whithin the celebration, we seek their actions beyond this, in institutions such as unions, defense centers, pastoral groups, among others. As a result, the main sources used were produced by these subjects, such as interviews, books and documents, which largely composse the collection of the Center for the Defense of Human Right Antônio Conselheiro (CDDH-AC).