“Señor de Sumalao”festivities in La Merced (Salta): sacralization practice, agencies and religious experience

prácticas de sacralización, agencias y experiencia religiosa

Abstract

This research consist of two parts: in the first we will present a description of the “Fiesta Grande” and the “Fiesta Chica del Señor de Sumalao”, developed in a rural area of La Merced municipality (Salta-Argentina); in the second we will undertake an analysis of the religious phenomenon, presenting some theoretical-ethnographic contributions. The ethnographic description will be based on the fieldwork realized during the last three years, putting emphasis on the following analytical foci: a) the differences observed between both days of celebration; b) the gestures and religious attitudes of the attendees; c) the testimonies of miracles and healings; d) the mythical stories; e) the points of view, discourses and institutional practices; and f) the role of sacred images in the cult. Departing from the concept of “practices of sacralization” (Martin, 2007), we will discuss the ‘durkheimian’ perspective concerning “the sacred and the profane” as categories of analysis. We propose to think about this religious phenomenon as a continuum of regulated (institutional) and de-regulated (non-institutional) practices. Moreover, we will problematize the relationship between objects, subjects and supernatural beings, following Latour (2008, 2007), postulating also a reading from the continuum of these three contributing elements involved in the religious experience of the participants in these Celebrations.