A look at the urban ecospirituality

Abstract

Ecospirituality is a form of religiosity that aims to break with western paradigms of the relationship between human and nature, approaching both. It is practiced by different urban religious groups, especially in the interior of alternative movements. Neo-pagans, for example, often occupy green areas of the city on weekends to perform rituals in which they call for their worshiped deities, usually attached to the various aspects of nature. Neo-Paganism is a phenomenon made up of different religions who seek to rescue aspects of the religion of ancient civilizations, before the rise of Christianity period. On the one hand in the pre-Christian era these practices was given in rural areas, on the other, its revival in modernity emerged in large urban centers, and is tied to specific cosmopolitan lifestyles of the modern context. In the cities, religions that are part of the Neo-Paganism’s corpus do not have proper temples, hence the importance of spaces such as squares, parks and urban forests plays in religious practices and sociability of these individuals.

Frequently in these religions nature is personified in the figure of Mother Earth. It is a female attribute, as it is believed that nature has features such as generating, nurturing, welcoming. Mother Earth, in turn, is an immanent divinity, not being in transcendent position regarding metaphysics reality. More than that, the notion of immanent sacred refers to a "substance identity that runs through all real spheres: humans, the natural landscape, the animals, the dead and the cosmos" (OLIVEIRA, 2010, p.31 ). The way Mother Earth is worshiped has different contours in different ways of the neopagan movement. If in Wicca it matches the main deity of the cult in an impersonal dimension (Great Goddess, Great Mother) or nominated by one of several earth-goddesses found in different cultures (Gaia, Pachamama) in religions such as Druidry this figure is view through the goddess Dannu, one of the deities that make up the pantheon of celtic peoples. Regardless of the cultural reality in which this religion is practiced, modern druids pay obeisance to the Earth, that is, the goddess Dannu.

This photo essay offers a glimpse into the ecospirituality practiced in the urban context, from the ethnographic case of a paraense neopagan, specifically druidist, group called Clann an Samamúma. The specific look will be released on a celebration held in one of the botanical gardens of the city, the Goeldi Museum, on Earth Day occasion in 2016. The event took place under one of samaumeiras that are in location, considered the group's "matron", and consisted of a circle of chanting, meditation, drums and circle dances. All activities were done in "honor" to Mother Earth, represented on an altar set up in the center of the wheel. One of the sung songs said that "the earth is our mother, we must take care of her / its soil is sacred and on he walked / united, my people, we are one", referring to this idea in Druidry that all are interconnected by the sacredness of the Earth.

Credits:

Author: Dannyel Teles de Castro

Photographs: Dannyel Teles de Castro

Direction, image editing and text:Dannyel Teles de Castro