Hospitality in the Feast of Divino Espírito Santo : the celebrate in Alcantara and São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil = Hospitalidade na Festa do Divino : seu festejar em Alcântara e São Luís do Maranhão

Abstract

This article analyses different modes of celebration on Feast of Divino Espírito Santo in Alcantara and São Luís, Maranhã, Brazil, also emphasizing the hospitality on the feast. Religious festivals have been important in the context of tourism as it promotes and even encourages direct contact between visitors and visited. The data were collected between 2012 and 2014, with qualitative methodology through participant observation and interviews. Data analysis indicates that the entertaining and the sacred, many of them permeated by eating together the foods served as part of the ritual, promotes social relations between subjects. Some singularities were observed as the fidelity to the Catholic sacred space in Alcantara, while in San Luis the party are celebrated in space of African Brazilian religions.