Candomblé

Origin & Beliefs

Candomblé emerged in Brazil in the 19th Century, and exhibited a mixture of African religions such as Yoruba, along with Catholicism and other West African traditions from people such as the Fon and the Bantu.The name itself means “dance in honor of the gods,” and many rituals and ceremonies incorporate music and dance in order to contact or summon spirits.

• Like many Afro-Caribbean religions that originated from West Africa, there are few written texts or doctrines for Candomblé; most traditions and principles are passed down orally through generations.

• Today Candomblé is practiced mainly in Brazil and also some other countries around the world by about 2 million people.

Beliefs/Rituals: Worshipping the same deities as the Yoruba religion, Candomblé tradition dictates that there is one supreme creator, Oludumaré, and the intermediaries between people on Earth and Oludumaré are known as orixas (spelling variations are common as the syncretized religions were formed in different countries with different languages).

• Similar to orixas there are also voduns and inkces; functioning as spirits that also serve Oludumaré, they are derived in language from the Fon and Bantu traditions, which along with Yoruba all hail from the same area of West Africa (Nigeria, Benin, Congo area, etc.). 

• Every individual is said to have assigned to them their own orixa, which represents certain colors, foods, elements of nature, and also illustrates the type of personality of said individual. 

• Spirits of ancestors who have not been deemed as deities are known as “Baba Egum” throughout Brazil.

• During ceremonies, priests or priestesses dress in ways that resemble the certain ancestors they hope to summon, and subsequently be possessed by for the duration of the ritual. Women are vital in the religion, many times leading the ceremonies utilizing choreographed dances.

• Morality is upheld by the ancestor spirits, but there is no distinction between good and bad in the religion; rather, every person is expected to live and fulfill the destiny designated to them.

• An excess of evil actions not aligned with a certain destiny is believed to be reciprocated in return, similar to karma.

• Sacred services were done within a terreiro, or a temple.

Conflicts with Catholics

Many slaves, having been insisted to convert once shipped from West Africa, Catholicism was a prominent part of daily living. Though masquerading under Catholic worship, Candomblé and many other Afro-Caribbean religions associated certain saints and imagery from Catholicism with deities and traditions from their own religions. This aided new arrivals who were uprooted from their homes in transitioning to enslaved living while still protecting some of their cultural and religious heritage. Candomblé was eventually condemned and persecuted by the Catholic church shortly after its conception, to such a violent extent that it took public protest campaigns and new legislation to finally stop it in the 1970s.

Readings/Resources

Béhague, Gerard. "Regional and National Trends in Afro-Brazilian Religious Musics: A Case of Cultural Pluralism." Latin American Music Review / Revista De Música Latinoamericana 27, no. 1 (2006): 91-103. www.jstor.org/stable/4121699.

Gordon, Jacob U. "Yoruba Cosmology and Culture in Brazil: A Study of African Survivals in the New World." Journal of Black Studies 10, no. 2 (1979): 231-244. www.jstor.org/stable/2784330.

Selka, Stephen. "Morality in the Religious Marketplace: Evangelical Christianity, Candomblé, and the Struggle for Moral Distinction in Brazil." American Ethnologist 37, no. 2 (2010): 291-307. www.jstor.org/stable/40784522.

Umbanda

Origin & Beliefs

Born in Southern Brazil, Umbanda formed out of syncretism with Brazilian religion, African traditions, Catholicism, and Spiritism. Similar to many other Afro-Caribbean religions, particularly Candomblé, exposure to different religions such as Yoruba and Catholicism, combined with local traditions and influences, led to the formation of an entirely new syncretic religion that shared many similarities with others.

• Though slowly forming in the late 19th Century, the official start of Umbanda came during the early 20th Century in Rio De Janeiro, traditionally said to be founded by Zélio Fernandino de Moraes. Moraes was a psychic and had been heavily influenced by Spiritist teachings, which eventually led him to create what is now known as the earliest form of Umbanda.

• Spiritism retains the idea that souls of living things are immortal, and contact with those who have passed away could assist in worldly problems.

• Umbanda became much more prominent in the 1930s when Brazil was politically changing and people of the lower class sought refuge in the religion. 

Beliefs/Rituals: Acquiring many structural elements from religions such as Yoruba and Catholicism, there is no true uniformity regarding the religion Umbanda, however there are many mainstream beliefs.

• Worship is done in temples, known as terreiro, which translates to “backyard.” In the early days when the religion was young, people would gather in the backyards of homes that belonged to devoted attendees for services.

• Zambi, or Olorum, is the supreme deity that the Umbanda religion holds faith in (inspired by the Yoruban supreme god Olodumare)

• Orixas are the divine gods who represent the connection between humans and Zambi, each being associated with Catholic saints (similar to the Orishas in Yoruba and Iwa in Vodou)

  • Each Orixa represents a different quality, such as love, justice or protection.

Readings/Resources

Contins, Márcia. "Umbanda, Candomblé, and Pentecostalism: Religious Frontiers in Brazil and in the United States." Afro-Hispanic Review 29, no. 2 (2010): 223-36. www.jstor.org/stable/41349352.

Engler, Steven. "Umbanda and Hybridity." Numen 56, no. 5 (2009): 545-77. Accessed July 8, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/27793819.