Os Rabelados de Santiago: Espinho Branco e Bacio: entre o "mito" de folclorizaçao e a (re)formulaçao identitaria

This dissertation looks at the transformation process with regard to the identity of a specific group, namely, the “Rabelados” of Santiago Island (Espinho Branco e Bacio). With an identity heavily placed on laid down principles marked by conflicts with the Church and the State, being a “rebelado”, in other words, “a chosen person”, chosen by Christ, and, self-supportive especially in the observation of a series of indispensable rituals: “o djunta-món” (working together or helping one another), the use of the holy cross, the definition of alliances and the organisation of work. These specific rituals are the strategies that constitute the maintenance of the group in preserving their identity and guaranteeing their reproduction.

To demonstrate how this strategy permits the group to create an autonomous power base, independent from external intervention, a space that permits the group’s uniqueness and legitimacy, staying as such at a marginal position in the global rural society where they live, refusing whatever links with the Church or State services, is one of the tasks of this dissertation.

Through an authentic analysis of the group, this dissertation seeks to make evident through various conditions, that these rituals are suffering transformations with a visible bridge established with the evolving society. This situation is caused in some parts by the intervention of mediators, a situation which has generated conflicts between the more receptive group – the younger generation, and the more conservative group – the older generation.