Lá no Céu Canta os Anjo, aqui na Terra Canta Nóis: um estudo etnográfico das práticas sócio-musicais dos foliões de reis no Sul de Minas Gerais

Abstract

This work shows, from an ethnographic approach, some aspects of the social and musical universe of foliões de reis from the south of Minas Gerais, specifically from thirteen groups from Alfenas and Fama cities. The journey of these groups (name given to the religious activity of cult and worship to the Three Kings) was also discussed in Paraguaçu, Machado, Areado and Campos Gerais cities. Besides doing a brief bibliographical review and discussing the particular and general dimensions of that religious activity, this work also presents, in a dialogical and articulated way with some structuralist notions, a possible theoretical basis to the interpretation of the foliões myth origin, mostly based on the symbolic character of the Three Kings journey. The social relations between saints, devotees, singers and residents are also described in order to show an dynamic scenery of disputes and reconcilements, as well as the prejudices suffered by the foliões; the importance of kin relationships; the women presence in those groups; the payments given to the singers; the conflicts with the local government; taboos; the relations established with the spiritual world etc. This work also brings some discussions about pedagogical process and social structure of the rituals, always describing and analyzing the reports given by the foliões, also in accordance with the musicology found in the hinos de reis and cantos de agradecimento. Finally, this work brings the description of the arrival and delivery of the flag in a rural community, paying attention to the importance that the chapels dedicated to the Catholic saints have for the devotees, who face the polarization between countryside and city and the decrease in number of groups in the region, reinvent themselves and restructure to propagate their beliefs and perpetuate their religious traditions.