A Influência da Religião na Elaboração do Luto entre Viúvas e Viúvos

Abstract

The present biographical study consists of the investigation of the religious strategies carried out by widows and widowers in the elaboration of mourning after the death of their spouses. The interviews were guided by a semi-structured script and, based on the theoretical basis anchored in the theory of social representations of Serge Moscovici and religion as a resource for the resignification of life, studied by Geertz, identify religious attitudes, rites, myths and symbols or not, employed by fifteen widows and fifteen widowers, as a strategy to overcome their loss. In a qualitative way, depending on the culture, including the gender relations, it was observed that religion, in its different representations, was a resource listed as effective in coping with this grieving and stressful situation, which is the loss of the companion or companion, for the majority of widowers who participated in this research.