The article draws on other studies about the playful dimension of popular religion in the Amazon to reflect on the results of ethnographic fieldwork carried out on a patron saint's festival in the outskirts of contemporary Belém, in the Brazilian state of Pará. Numerous elements exogenous to the religious ritual such as advertising, economic tradeoffs and political motivations were observed to transform the meanings of religious devotion. The study reveals the dynamic nature of the reproduction of popular religion within the context of diverse popular festivities in different social-spatial realities in the Amazon. Religious devotion and 'practical sense' are entwined in the process of transforming the event, revealing the complexity of social exchanges practiced in a patron saint's festival at a large urban scale.
Holy Feast; Popular devotion; Contemporary religion; Fair; Amazon
