Culto aos antepassados okinawanos

dicotomias na construção da identidade okinawano-japonesa no Brasil

Abstract

The Okinawans are Japanese with historical and cultural particularities, including ancestor worship, known as Sosen Suuhai. This paper aims to expose some of the relations between this practice and other aspects of life such as family, community, identity and memory of the Okinawans in Brazil. This study is based on interviews from worship practitioners and participant observation in the Okinawan community in São Paulo, between 2013 and 2014. First, the historical relations between okinawans and Japanese are displayed as a background to worship, memory and identity. Secondly, we will present some associations between okinawan worship which is carachterized by joy and expansion, characteristics that are opposed to the sobriety and hierarchy of the japanese cult. These dichotomy of meanings atributed to Sosen Suuhai has been strategic to the ethnic demarcation and to reframing Okinawan identity in Brazil.