Ethnography of the Rite: syntax and funerary isotopy of the wake in Maracaibo

Abstract

In the present work, the ethnographic information collected in six wakes observed during the period 1999-2003 is analyzed. Due to its special characteristics, particular emphasis will be placed on a wake held in Maracaibo in 1999, which combines the traditional Catholic rite with that of a group of vassals of San Benito, a widespread religious cult in Venezuela. Thanks to attendance and participation in the ritual, it was also possible to interview several informants about the components of this mixed ritual. The rite was divided into sequences with a double purpose: to establish its fundamental components and then to make an inventory of the main semantic values ​​invested in the rite, in order to develop a model of its fundamental isotopies. Some of the social values ​​that the rite actualizes are also briefly analyzed. The research uses the semiotic model of A.J. as a theoretical foundation. Greimas, Turner's theory of the symbol and Thomas's Anthropology of Death.