AFRICAN-DERIVED RELIGIONS IN BRAZIL
African-derived religions in Brazil include, most prominently, Candomblé and Umbanda, as well as Xango, Batuque, Cantimbo, and Macumba, which are regionally associated traditions. African-derived religions have played an important role in the formation of Afro-Brazilian ethnic identities, both historically and today. Such traditions have been both celebrated and denigrated at different times and by different actors, from the Catholic Church in the post-independence era-which characterized them as evidence of “backwards” African culture and Afro-Brazilians as failing to become “true Catholics”-to today’s Pentecostals, who condemn Candomblé and Umbanda as “devil worship.”
Not all African religions survived to become African-derived religions. Islam, for example, was the religion of many of the Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, and other slaves brought to Brazil, but was subsumed by other practices that gave rise to Candomblé and Umbanda. Thus, today’s practices represent an amalgam of various traditions, which continue to evolve in conversation with practitioners in Nigeria and elsewhere in West Africa. Though statistics report that Candomblé and other African-derived religious participants are few in number-under 5% of the population-this fails to reflect the many Brazilians who are not initiates but who nonetheless may visit a practitioners (such as a healer), perhaps to address a challenge around health, money, or love. In fact, the 2010 census found that 13% of the Brazilian population claim to have more than one religion, usually Catholic and Umbanda or Catholic and Spiritist.
As suggested by the common Brazilian saying, “if one does not come due to love, one comes due to pain,” solving the problems of life, particularly physical healing, is central to both Candomblé and Umbanda. Illness, diagnosis, and cure all have a supernatural aspect and many of the religious rituals are strategies for maintaining or restoring physical, mental, or social well-being. Possession is another characteristic of African-derived religion, locating liminality within the physical being.
Candomblé
Candomblé draws on the religious traditions of a multiplicity of African ethnic groups, but especially the Yoruba, Fon, and Bantu. Like Santeria and Voudoun elsewhere, Candomblé recognizes a pantheon of deities known as orishas (orixás), many of whom are associated with Catholic saints, a reflection of early syncretism under slavery as slaves were forced to hide their beliefs within the veil of Catholicism. Full participation requires initiation, a lengthy ceremonial process during which an initiate becomes bound to a particular orisha. Daily practice at a terreiro, a Candomblé temple, includes the fulfillment of various ritual obligations, offering food and sometimes animal sacrifices to an orisha or orishas, public and private celebrations, consultations with clients, and celebrations. Public festivities draw a wide range of onlookers, from devotees, to Brazilians and tourists for whom the cultural aspects of Candomblé appeal strongly.
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16 сен 2024
