A educação simbólica das bruxas Pongondós (Povo Novo – Rio Grande/RS)

Abstract

The present work, entitled The Symbolic Education of Witches Pongondós (Povo Novo – Rio Grande/RS), contemplates the narrative of the experience of three ladies, the Silveira sisters, from the community of Povo Novo/RS (3rd District of Rio Grande), who, based on their memories, expose their life trajectories. Upon noticing symbolic, ancestral, and perennial elements in the daily life of that community, as well as resonant in my own journey, armed with sources and experiences with the elderly, the following problem arose: how does education occur in this space where the rusticity of traditional relationships sets the tone of daily life? And what are its roots? A space that is still on the margins of formal education. With the general objective of identifying the roots of Symbolic Education, based on the popular pongondós narratives, we came to the thesis that the set of local practices translates into a symbology capable of educating, from popular knowledge, a homo sensitive to traditional knowledge and that this indirect, non-academic knowledge, fermented in noninstitutionalized environments, is capable of providing a Symbolic Education that expresses itself from the narrative of the Pongondós Witches and is evidenced by the rusticity of the forms, the symbolism of the gestures and the loveliness. The Fates are the living metaphor of the three sisters, and evoke all the ancestry of the witch, of feminine power, of dealing with nature, and of the nurturing, healing, and loving maternal archetype - necessary factors for the educational world. Women, the individuals who are the protagonists of this research, bless, overcome adversities through sympathy, and earn their bread from the craftsmanship that springs out of their hands. But, even more, echoes through the community the healing of the world through a sensitive look, a way of life that is updated in every But, even more they echo through the community the healing of the world through a sensitive look, a way of life that is updated in generations through Symbolic Education. For this study, the methodology used for the production of sources was based on (Auto)Biography and Narratives (ABRAHÃO; PASSEGGI, 2012; DELORY-MOMBERGER, 2012) and Autoethnography (CLIFFORD, 2002; SANTOS, 2017; and VERSIANI, 2002). Regarding the theory that guides the thesis, we find in the studies of the Imaginary and in the Phenomenology of Religions and Religiosities the main bases, mainly with, respectively, Gilbert Durand (1988; 1995; 2012), when addressing the image, the anthropological path and the imaginary itself; and Mircea Eliade (2013; 2002; 1999; and 1991), in the comparison of the cultural hierophanic expressions (appearances of the sacred) and the a-historical face of our species. The thesis finds its cradle in the Group of Studies and Research on Imaginary, Education and Memory (GEPIEM), at the Faculty of Education (FaE) of the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel).