Ethnographic Space

Tonight marks the 50th wedding anniversary of the Mestre and Dona Teresa, the founders of an Ayahuasca religion. Although the Mestre has been deceased since 1992, his wife will be in mourning for the rest of her life, and never to remarry. Over 500 people will be descending on the church tonight at 6 pm. The festivities end around 4:30 AM and resume with a barbeque on Saturday around noon. People are traveling from all over Brazil to celebrate. I feel a bit uncomfortable to be going since I will not be participating in drinking Ayahausca or singing the hymns of celebration. To ease my discomfort, I keep repeating to myself that this is an ideal ethnographic space I will be entering. We, the kids and I, will be hanging out in the “children’s area”, a back room of the church designated for the children. I want to study pregnancy and Ayahuasca and thus the children of Ayahuasca, so there is no better place to be. And to answer your question, yes, the children take the tea as well, albeit smaller sized portion. I’m anxious to see this situation. We leave in 20 minutes…