Ritual kupofia: prática e significado entre Muanis da Cidade de Pemba

Abstract

Rituals are a regular practice in Mozambique, despite undergoing restructuring in their approach, rituals remain a tradition as an entity responsible for preparing and guiding individuals during their lives. In this work the main objective is to understand the meaning and practices of the ritual, being one of the aspects in which the actors mold their identities in contact with various social realities. The kupofia ritual is a practice of recurring marriage within the muani community, which it consists in recognizing the relationship between man and woman in front of the two families. Individuals understand the meaning of the kupofia ritual as a cultural ceremony and traditional in the muani community, which serves to give the legality of the relationship between man and woman, this consists of giving individuals respect, responsibility and consideration between the two families and the community in general. The research results allow us to infer that in the past the kupofia ritual consisted on the parents' part in choosing the future partner or partner of their children, but currently the process has undergone transformations, normally already it is not the parents who choose and decide on the future partner or partner of their children. The study also allows us to develop a reasoning through which aspects of change in the practice of the ritual are linked to the acquisition and internalization of new values ​​such as the free choice of spouses, the monetization of the practice, the age differential of the spouses. In the same tuning fork, there are multiple spaces for contemporary interaction such as the expansion of the school network, globalization that has shaped new models and behavioral patterns of individuals.(TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)