DON SEBASTIAN'S MARANHENSE ENCHANTMENT

Abstract

On moonlit nights, in the sands of the Isle of Sheets in Maranhão, Dom Sebastião appears as an enchanted bull, and some can see its treasures in the dunes. A family of Don Sebastian, with children, members of the court, knights, cowboys and soldiers, consists of enchanted beings that are received in a trance in healing and tambor de mina rituals. The bull of Don Sebastian is one of the strands forming the festival Bumba-meu-boi and other popular demonstrations in Maranhão. Through observations in the christening of the "boizinho de Dom Sebastião" (Don Sebastian's little bull), a healing ritual, we try to understand the elements of Sebastianism in Maranhão, analyzing the presence of syncretism and hybridism as ways of understanding religion and culture.