A percepção dos praticantes das religiões afro-brasileiras sobre o silenciamento dos terreiros na cidade de Oeiras-PI (2023–2025)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the period from 2023 to 2025, the period in which both terreiros were established and operating, and, therefore, to analyze the perceptions of Umbanda and Candomblé terreiro attendees regarding the silencing they experience in the city of Oeiras, Piauí. It is widely agreed that Afro-Brazilian religions are silenced, and this occurs due to colonial legacies. This study seeks to understand how practitioners of these religions feel about this silencing in the city of Oeiras, known as the Capital of Faith. This work involved readings from various authors, such as Reginaldo Prandi, Vera de Oxaguiã, and Nicolau Pares. Furthermore, oral history methodology was used to interview attendees of the terreiros in the respective city. This work concludes that the prejudice faced by terreiros in Oeiras, Piauí, is a serious problem and becomes more apparent when hearing accounts from victims. This article, by giving these people a chance and a voice to express themselves, seeks to contribute to ending the erasure of terreiros in the respective city and, furthermore, to strengthen the right of those involved to express themselves, thus enabling the emergence of a broader society in the sense of religions and the promotion, through knowledge, of respect for a faith with rites different from Oeiras Catholicism.