Between Exodus and the Final Judgment: “Sertaneja” Worldview and the Trajectory of Antonio Conselheiro’s Belo Monte (Brazil, 1893–1897)

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Abstract The present paper presupposes (developed under the scope of Semiotics and Cultural Studies) that texts in culture are endowed not only with their capacity to produce images but mainly to create new messages. As texts are transmitted to receivers in different times, places and repertoires, they undergo processes of recodification and become new texts by inserting dynamism in cultural processes. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that texts do not exist isolated, without relation with other texts. On the contrary, the possible combinations among them are potentially the most unexpected. Those references allow us to think about the creative role of the reception of biblical elements in the articulation of identities and narratives in history. And a special challenge is imposed: considering the Bible’s popular reception. It is necessary to take into consideration specific scenarios and, simultaneously, the dynamic scenarios of the same reception. It is important to overcome prejudice regarding the sources that lead us to that reception. At the Belo Monte of Antonio Conselheiro, stage of one of the most significant social and religious experiences, and, at the end, one of the bloodiest experiences of Brazilian history, the Bible’s new readings link many of its themes to references coming from other mythological worlds of African origin and (mainly) of indigenous matrix. The myth of the flight into Egypt and the conquest of the Promised Land were linked to others connected with abundance and freedom. The biblical concept of the Antichrist played a significant role in the sertanejo’s understanding about the social and the political environment: Belo Monte was the place where salvation could be perceived and the body could be fed and healed. And the perspective of the imminent end of the world became more intense when military operations, through a brutal war, acted in order to destroy the holy village: biblical references supported ideas that encouraged resistance movement and prepared the “death in the Lord,” martyrdom, under Judgment Day expectation.