Enrabamento, healing and protection: cosmologies of the Caboclo Ataíde in the Northeast of Pará

Abstract

Caboclo Ataíde is an entity of the Amazon enchantment that manifests itself near the rivers and mangroves on the coast of northeastern Pará, mainly in the town of Bragança. He is known as a “caboclo” or an “enchanted” featuring in the narratives of the local populations in the form of different animals. This article analyzes two aspects of the presence of the enchanted: First, through the act of “enrabar” (analizing) people in fishing environments, crab fishing expeditions, and feasts, where one suddenly feels their ass (“rabo” or “xiri”) being penetrated, causing pain and illness with different effects; Second, through the ability to protect people affected by the “naughtiness” of other enchanted ones, being summoned by healers and shamans of the region to battle with or “remove the lines” of the so-called “brabos caboclos”. Narratives about analizing and protecting show elements of the entity's cosmological relationship in various forms of affectation in the spaces of work, pleasure and healing.

Key words:
Enrabamento; Cure; Enchanted; Amazon