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Bea wants to know

Roger Canals

Journal of Anthropological Films March 1, 2019 DOI: 10.15845/jaf.v2i1.1541 via DOAJ

Summary

AI-generated from the abstract

A young Puerto Rican university student, Bea, seeks help from mediums in San Juan after her personal and professional life deteriorates. A Peruvian-born medium, Pedro, guides her through a three-phase spiritual cleansing ritual to expel negative energies: a cleansing with a white dove, a purification in a tropical river, and an offering to the sea. The ritual concludes with Bea purifying her own home with a white dove. The narrative illustrates how divination and spirit possession practices in Afro-American and Puerto Rican contexts offer explanations and solutions for life's hardships.

Study at a glance

Characteristics Peer reviewed
Interventions Spiritual cleansing with a white dove purification ritual in a tropical river offering to the sea
Keywords Ritual Puerto rico Afro-america Divination Spirit possession
Citations 1
Key finding A spiritual cleansing ritual involving a white dove, a river purification, and a sea offering is depicted as a means to restore happiness by expelling negative energies.

Abstract

Bea is a young Puerto Rican university student living in San Juan. Despite her efforts, her professional and personal life seem to have deteriorated. She has broken up with her boyfriend and the relationship with her parents is getting worse. Besides, she dreams of travelling, but she doesn’t have the money to do so. She decides to go to see several mediums in order to understand why everything is going wrong. She will find the answers to her questions through Pedro, a Peruvian-born medium based in San Juan, who will encourage her to take part in a spiritual cleansing ritual to expel the negative energies which prevent her from being completely happy. More precisely, Pedro will organise a ritual made up of three phases: a spiritual cleansing with a white dove, a purification ritual in a tropical river and an offering to the sea. At the end of the film, Bea will have to spiritually purify her own house by going into all the rooms with a white dove.

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