This is a focused ethnographic study that had as purpose to interpret the meaning and the system of knowledge attributed to the blood, regarding the blood transfusion, for the blood donors and receivers. For information collection observation and ethnographic interview, domain analisis, taxonomics and thematics were used. Cultural domains were: blood is life, life source and precious food; religious faiths: symbolic sources of support; donation of blood: ready gesture that demands care, rewards and brings happiness; blood transfusion: symbolic sources of insecurity; being sick: condition to accomplish blood transfusion; blood transfusion: life hope; popular faiths: blood transfusion as risk for health; blood donors: blessed people; donating and receiving blood: as meaning of happiness. The thematic: "precious liquid that originates, sustains, modifies life, and provokes fear and instability".
Blood; Cultura; Nursing