Benzedeira

With two they put you, with three I take you off. With three I bless you, with three I heal you.

The word and the gift

The logic that guides one of the most frequent mottos in a blessing helps us to understand this sacred craft. The "two" refers to the eyes, to the evil eye that is placed upon a person, inflicting on them all the negative consequences. To free a person from the evil eye, it is necessary to turn to the divine. That is where the trinity comes in: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

By tradition, healers say that they are not the ones who heal; they only channel divine forces. That is why they do not usually accept payment for the cure received; at most, gifts. After all, becoming a healer is accepting a mission. Embracing the gift received from birth, but which needs to be stimulated.

And who are these people and what role do they play in the social sphere? Edmilson Pereira and Núbia Gomes, in “Assim se Benze em Minas Gerais” (2018), describe:

“The healer stands out as a social agent who performs – in rural areas or on the outskirts of larger centers – the function of maintaining the balance of man and the world. Although they may prescribe herbs and teas as complementary measures, the healer cures through the power of the word, and their work is not remunerated, even though the conditions for their material survival are generally difficult and, in many cases, painful.”

Gestures and practices of healing

What can be blessed? Everything. Not only human illnesses, but also animal illnesses. It is also possible to bless against animals (wild animals, snake bites) or to bless land to ward off pests, sending snakes and ants away. One even blesses to bring rain.

Regarding illnesses, there is a whole framework of its own. In addition to the quebrante, it is possible to treat zipra (or erysipelas); vento or ventre virado; dor de veado (or dor desvio); cobrão or cobreiro (herpes zoster) and many others.

The blessing can also take the form of a stitch. Geovegildo da Silva, a healer from the rural area of ​​Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul, said that he would stitch a cloth with never-before-used thread to bless what was called a "suppressed nerve." During the gesture, he would ask the person: "What am I sewing?" They would answer: "Bad, twisted nerve, lacerated vein." In the account recorded by Gill and Rocha (2015, p. 107), he compared the work to an operation. The stitching done on the cloth represented the desired repair in the body.

Prayers, places and new ways to reach people

The words spoken in each blessing vary greatly. By default, they are whispered more than widely announced, maintaining a relationship of privacy and mystery. In addition to traditional prayers, it is common to always send all evil to the "outgoing sea" or similar variations. The goal is for the salty waters of the ocean to help purge all bad energies.

Sometimes, there is also a specific corner or room in the house where the blessing is performed, as if to channel the chanted prayers. At the same time, distance blessing is already common. If, in the past, one blessed "on the course" – that is, turning towards the object of healing, even if kilometers away – nowadays, internet-mediated blessing is also established as a possibility.

It is worth pointing out that, commonly, as Dulce Mendes states: “The healers and healers practicing Afro-Brazilian religions do not disregard the intercession of Catholic saints, whom they invoke with prayers and chants of this religious denomination.” The same, however, does not always happen, due to the strong religious racism that permeates the country.