Etnobotânica de plantas ritualísticas na prática religiosa de matriz africana em Ituiutaba, MG

Abstract

The plants, in the universe of religions of African influence, have great value because they are used for ritualistic and routine purposes by the communities of the terreiros. In this sense, this study was carried out with the objective of understanding and analyzing ethnobotany in religions of umbanda and candomblé for medicinal purposes, indicated to the babalorixá and mentioned in the questionnaires answered by the participants in the municipality of Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais. For this, technical visits were made for data collection, which contributed to the realization of a catalog with scientific name, botanical family, popular name, religious and therapeutic use, followed by images of each species present in the yard of the yard ILé Àse Tobi Babá Olorigbin, hereafter referred to in this study only as Axé Olorigbin. In this study, 20 participants were approached to complete the questionnaire and through these it was possible to obtain information on the knowledge of Afro-Brazilian religion. After the ethnobotanical survey was performed phytochemical analysis, phenol content, flavonoid and DPPH of the most cited species. The results made it possible to understand the benefits that the rituals and the use of the plants promoted in the visitors of the terreiro, promoted in the quality of life and in the well-being of the practitioners of the religion. Finally, this study contributed to register the knowledge and culture of the Afro-Brazilian religion and to demystify the prejudice about the umbanda and candomblé terreiros.