DEATH AT DOMESTIC ENVIRONMENT: funeral rites on the Fluminense Paraiba Valley in the XIXth century (parish of Pirai)

Abstract

Masses for the souls, prayers, the funeral procession, the burial: the funeral rites were lived in and by the community in the XIXth century. Taking part in these public rites used to help the community to deal with the crisis that was drawn from the departure of one of its members to beyond. However, the preparation for death wasinitiated in the moribund’s house, even before his departure. This paper intends to analyze how the imminence of death used to transform the sick’s house, an usually domestic and profane environment, to a heterotopic place where specific rites built an atmosphere of exception. There, the boundaries between the sacred and the profane, the public and the private, were confused; the physical imminence of death meant death itself, transforming its disintegrating character into an expectation of transcendence which, tied to the belief of a good death, reconciled the community with itself and with God

Keywords

• Funeral rites
• Ddomestic environments
• Heterotopy
• Catholic Church