Church and Street, two spaces, one faith

This book seeks to understand the meanings of the Corpus Christi festival in contemporary times, as well as to examine its relationship with space and religion. The core of the work is the analysis of this solemnity, considering its playful, artistic, performative, and ephemeral character. Given that the carpets are traditionally made in the street, one of the main objectives of the work was to analyse this dichotomy between the sacred and the profane, not as antagonistic and unsociable categories, but as subjects of dialogue and discussion. Another aspect analysed focuses on the process of making the carpets, in order to better understand the symbolic action of drawing religious images, even if temporary, on an unusual surface - the street. Alongside these possibilities for analysis, the notion of celebration and its characterisation of collective effervescence, which is capable of renewing pacts and reinforcing communion, will also be addressed. All these categories - which are subject to analysis - whether in the procession or in the making of the carpet, are what give the solemnity its unique configuration.