Fazendo Crianças: uma iconografia das ibejadas pelos centros, lojas e fábricas do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Abstract

The ibejadas are childlike entities that, alongside the caboclos, pretos-velhos, exus, and pombagiras, inhabit the umbanda pantheon. In religious centers, these entities manifest through colorful images, joyful sung charts, and an abundance of sweets that allow us to see and feel the Children. This article analyzes the images of the ibejadas, in congás (altars), shop windows, and factories of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), exploring their processes of production and characterization, investigating how they are chosen, classified, and commercialized. To this end, we will broaden the fields of observation by analyzing interactions between factory, stores, and religious centers, examining how mediums select and interact with these images, and how the manufacturers and sellers classify and produce them. Thus, we reveal how these images can be art, labour, and commodities, and how, between the factory and the congá, various processes and people name, individualize, and consecrate these representions of the Children.