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(Religious) Scapular and Devotion: Extended Self and Sacralization

Larissa de Britto, PPA/UEM, Brazil

Olga Pépece, PPA/UEM, Brazil
Elisabete Camilo, PPA/UEM, Brazil
Ana Paula de Miranda, COPPEAD/UFPE, Brazil

This essay has the objective of understanding how the process of sacralization of the (Religious)Scapular takes place for the Catholics
who wear this item, in order to make this comprehension possible, a content analysis of users discourse revealed that “the sacred” isn´t
in the object but in the person who gave it. What sacralizes isn´t the religion but the affection relation with the person who gave the
object; therefore, it becomes a symbol of protection.

[to cite]:
Larissa de Britto, Olga Pépece, Elisabete Camilo, and Ana Paula de Miranda (2017) ,"(Religious) Scapular and Devotion:
Extended Self and Sacralization ", in LA - Latin American
Advances in Consumer Research Volume 4, eds. Enrique P. Becerra, Ravindra Chitturi, and Maria Cecilia Henriquez Daza and
Juan Carlos Londoño Roldan, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 88-88.

[url]:
http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1700047/la/v4_pdf/LA-04

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 (Religious) Scapular and Devotion: Extended Self and Sacralization
Larissa de Britto, PPA/UEM, Brazil
Olga Pépece, PPA/UEM, Brazil
Ana Paula de Miranda, COPPEAD/UFPE, Brazil
Elisabete Camilo, PPA/UEM, Brazil
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Accordingly to the study of Park and Baker (2007), goods
consumption is determining in order to mark consumers identity, one
of this identity marking occurs in religion, because it´s throughout
sacred symbols that individuals exteriorize and materialize their
faith. Meanwhile, Belk, Wallendorf and Serry (1989) set that a
gradual religion secularization and a secular sacralization. This study
aims to comprehend the process of the object (religious)scapular for
Catholics who wear it daily.
Belk (1988) developed theory of the extended self being an
important aspect of the relation between people and possessions in
which the meaning assigned for the individual to possession reflects
their own identity. Ahuvia (2005) contributes to Belk´s findings
adding to material goods more than the possession idea, where one is
more important than the other due to the way it is treated and loved by
their owner. Among the goods taken into account as very important,
were found those related to religion. Religious consumption brings
in its essence a matter of individual spirituality, hence, individuals
chooses to consume some religious objects or activities which
in addition to their beliefs, values and meanings, are capable of
providing evidence and commitment to religiosity (Cosgel & Minkler,
2004), also, demonstrating societal belonging (Tajfel,1978). Araújo,
Vieira and Turano (2013) ratify this view specifically on Catholicism
when assuring the active impact of religion on consumer during
the process of acquiring a certain good or service. Considering the
sacred-profane analysis by Belk, Wallendorf and Sherry (1989), the
items which are considered sacred are represented by transcendental
experiences, those happen with specific religious objects and show
the six existing forms already identified of sacralization of goods in
consumption culture: rituals, quintessence, gift giving, collection,
heritage and for external sanction.
A qualitative research took place for this study, 15 semi-
structured interviews with Catholic scapular users from the city
of Maringá, located in the south of Brazil where 64.75% of the
population is catholic (IBGE, 2010). Interviews length were around
30 minutes and took place from October to November 2016; they
were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using category content
analysis (Bardin, 2008/1997).
It was possible to identify that the religious scapular has power
on social action of Catholics, due to it being a special possession
for owners who also give it a supernatural power. This protection
meaning is given to the scapular object for its sacralization that
occurs not only for religious beliefs but also for the act of gift
giving. All respondents related receiving the scapular as a gift from
a close family member (mother, grandmother) who recommended
it to be used daily as a mean of protection, and, onwards of this
gift giving ritual, the object was noticed as sacred and imbued with
protection meaning. The respondents showed clear affective memory
and the feeling transference related to “the Mother who protects”
to the scapular, which substituted the mother on protection act, as
the main function of the person who loves towards the loved one.
88
Ahuvia (2005) contributed to the understanding of this sacralization
that in addition to the religious strength it also carries the family
affection. The object demonstrates being the mother (birth mother)
presence transferred from her to the celestial mother, present in the
scapular. The scapular is therefore, an object socially constructed of
love, trough relationships and experiences shared, such as personal
matters, rituals and places. Possession is the physical evidence of
prior experiences, feelings and family relations (Ahuvia, 2005).
When possessing a scapular, people stated feeling capable of
acts that were considered impossible before possessing the object;
the strength was therefore attributed to the object. The scapular is
important for individual identification as part of a group, in order to
externalize one´s belief, and to feel protected and with the necessary
strength to achieve what wouldn´t be possible without the scapular.
This study demonstrates its theoretical contributions about
sacred religious objects trough gift giving process, not only for
religious beliefs, the sacralization is done by the person who gives
the gift, transforming it in a loved and sacred object for double
protection meaning: religion and family. Because those who love
protect… and who would not want to feel loved?
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