La guerison dans le culte a maria lionza

Illness recovery in maria lionza's worship

• Auteur / Autrice : Nelly García Gavidia
• Direction : André-Marcel d' Ans
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Sociologie
• Date : Soutenance en 1987
• Etablissement(s) : Paris 7

Résumé

Le culte a maria lionza est une manifestation religieuse, donc un phenomene social. Il est tres repandu dans la societe venezulienne. Son developpement et expansion sont lies aux changements vecus par la societe venezuelienne lors des soixante dix dernieres annees. Cette societe est passee d'un modele economique agraire exportateur a un modele minero exportateur fonde sur l'exploration et l'exploitation petroliere. Dans cette manifestation religieuse, les representations et les pratiques se manifestent par l'intermediaire des rituels tels que la divination, la possession et la guerison. Dans les pratiques de guerison, on utilise des plantes, des massages, des ablutions, des bains. Quand la maladie est signe de "choix divin", la guerison consiste a la transformer de "possession sauvage" en "possession sacree". Autrement dit, c'est la socialisation de la crise de possession. Ce culte a deux poles complementaires: l'incarnation des divinites et le sens therapeutique. Les pretes et les pretresses utilisent leurs "pouvoirs sacres" pour soulager ceux qui y font recours.

Maria lionza's worship is a religious practice, then a social phenomenom. This practice is well spred in venezuelian society. Its development and expansion are related to the changes appeared in venezuelian society during the last seventy years. This society changed from an agricultural export economic model into a mineral export model based on oil exploration and explotation. In this religious practice, representations are showed by means of rites of divination, possession and illness recovery. During the illness recovery practices, one uses plants, massages, ablutions, baths. When illness is a sign of "divin's choice", recovery consists at transformating it from "sauvage possession" into "sacred possession". Otherwise, it means the socialisation of possession's crise. This worship has two complementary poles: divinities incarnation and therapeutical meaning. Priests and priestess use their "sacred powers" for relieving those who make appeal to this practice. Recovery practices are ritual ceremonies. Their social fonction consists in renforcing the group's cohesion, allowing its members