O lugar do “outro mundo” na percepção da nacionalidade: cartas e pedidos ao “São Tancredo”

Abstract

This paper analyzes letters and requests left on the grave of Tancredo Neves (Cemetery of the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, São João del-Rey, Minas Gerais, Brazil) in the days and months following his death. On one hand, the collected documents indicate the persistence of beliefs that are treasured by the religious traditions that formed Brazilian society, such as the importance of the dead and saints as protectors of the living, which is related to the saints’ supposed ability to intercede with the divine. On the other hand, the reading of these documents is an invitation to reflect on a specific way to give meaning to the concept of nationality, through which the world of the dead seems to function as a place where the ills experienced daily by a suffering and wronged people find compensation. For some of the authors of these letters and requests, Tancredo Neves would simply continue the “patriotic mission” he initiated in life in the “other world” to both restore democracy and improve the living conditions of the Brazilian population.