Terreiro do Egito: recuerdos y resistencia en São Luís do Maranhão

• Main Authors: Carolina C. de Souza Martins, Elio de Jesus Pantoja Alves
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco 2017-12-01
• Series: Clio: Revista de Pesquisa Histórica
• Subjects: Comunidades rurales; Memorias; Territorio sagrado
• Online Access: https://periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/revistaclio/article/view/230755/27927

This job describes and analyses the experience of searching for the ancestry of a group of mães de santo and pais de santo, whose reference is Terreiro do Egito, which is considered a holy territory by old residents and by the ones who follow Tamor de Mina -- an African religion common in Maranhão. Terreiro de Mina is localized in Cajueiro's rural community, near São Marcos' bay, in the county of São Luís, southwest of Maranhão island[i], place that is being threatening since the beginning of the 1980s because São Luís Portuary Complex[ii] has been expanding for industrial activities. That's why this article intends to show recently how the collective memory is triggered when the threat of losing this territory is a reality.