Sacralizando materialidades

(Inter)ações de pessoas e coisas na inauguração de uma Casa Sagrada em Timor-Leste

Abstract

These photos capture moments of preparation and ritual performance for the inauguration of a Sacred House (Uma Adat) celebrated in 2015 in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. The construction was carried out by Júlio Alfaro, the officiant of the ritual, on the grounds of establishing continuity with the family's original Uma Adat in the municipality of Viqueque, 189 km from Dili. In order to avoid breaching lulik (sacred) obligations of deference and honor to the ancestors, the new Uma Adat would serve as a shelter for the family relics: Objects that materialise the deeds, memories and history of those who disincarnated, but continue to exercise agency in the world of the living, including to show their displeasure when the ritual obligations owed to
them are not properly fulfilled. The focus of the narrative shifts from the physicality of the House to the handling of other materialities, which are fundamental to the existence and meaning of the ritual: Food and relics. The journey of the records
follows the preparation of the fire and the food, the ritual exhibition of the objects and the final moment of communion of the living under the care guaranteed by ancestral spirits. Cooking traditional food, red rice and pork as prepared by grandparents was a gesture of respect, as was the celebration of deeds, conquests and memories printed on stones (used to build past houses), weapons (used in past battles) and other carefully and treasured items. It is in the communion of the family, during the meal, that the quality of the bond that unites the living and the dead is celebrated, fulfilling obligations, keeping traditions alive and reproducing the family unit.