Sweet saints: devotions to Cosmas and Damian in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Abstract

In September 2020, during the Museums Spring, the Laboratory of Anthropology of the Playful and the Sacred of the National Museum, belonging to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Ludens/MN/UFRJ) exhibited on Instagram the virtual exhibition Doces Santos: the devotions to Cosme and Damian in Rio de Janeiro, which we reproduce here in synthetic version. The virtual exhibition was an experiment in scientific dissemination in a non-conventional medium, presenting part of the results of a long-term collective anthropological research on the devotion to the twin saints. This work sought to understand the relationships of reciprocity, interreligious relations and urban flows articulated by the celebration of the saints, from the perspective of the people who make it possible.