Umbanda

The first recorded mention of Umbanda comes in the 1920s from Niterói, in Rio de Janeiro, the state where in 1941 the First Congress of Umbanda Spiritualism was organized. The first references, however, also mentioned “Macumba”, with the idea of differentiating between them, thus showing the pre-existence of similar practices. Many initiatives, independent of hierarchical control, made possible a rapport between elements of Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritualism and Afro-Brazilian traditions. A new religious genealogy emerged from this confusion, but showed that it was divided between the names “Umbanda” and “Quimbanda” or, more popularly, “Macumba”.

Although they share the same set of beliefs, the two names reflect a difference in emphasis. Umbanda supposedly works “for good”, while Quimbanda is distinguished by its intention to work “for evil”. This is a simplistic interpretation, however, because the ambivalence between good and evil seems, in reality, to be characteristic of the fundamental myths of this strand of religion, which conceives of the cosmos as divided between different factions, which relate to each other through mystical attacks and defences. As in the struggles of love and other competitive situations, what is good for one party may be bad for the other, and vice versa.

The mythology of Umbanda has a clear sense of hierarchy. Religious beings are divided into seven “Lines”, commanded by an orixá or Catholic saint. The lines are subdivided into “Phalanxes” and “Legions”, which are made up of disembodied spirits in various stages of evolution. The main altar, which is known as “Conga”, is usually decorated with large numbers of images and objects, illustrating the complexity of the Umbanda pantheon. The altars may have images of Christ, the Guide, Our Lady, saints such as St Lazarus, St George, SS Cosmas and Damian, orixás, ‘pretos velhos’, ‘caboclos’, candles, necklaces, flowers and sometimes non-religious icons, such as the Brazilian flag. Umbanda started between the wars, at a time of strong nationalism, and sees itself as a patriotic religion.

The cult centres around the “Gira”, involving sacred music and dance. The drums mark out the rhythm, and the mediums chant the “ponto” under the leadership of the Mother or the Father of the Saint, dance in a circle and receive their spiritual guides, acting as their “horses” or “machines”. Besides expressing their vital energy in dance, as in Candomblé, the Umbanda guides are there to counsel those devotees who approach them. They guide them and purify them by “passes” with their hands, which protects them against mystical attack to which they are subject.

The Mother and some of the more senior daughters of the saint receive devotees for consultations, which they do whilst “embodied” by their guides. Umbanda Centres are thus centres for evaluating and resolving a multitude of conflicts which assail people in their daily lives. They specialize in identifying the causes of unhappiness, and are well versed in local social psychology. They help to explain the problem and invest it with a higher meaning. The competitive round of daily life, where inequalities breed envy and resentment, results in the development of evil spells, or simply negative vibrations which do harm. The people of Umbanda (one might say, in large measure, the people of Brazil) take the “evil eye” seriously.

Umbanda is a notable cultural development, bringing to the interpretation and resolution of conflicts a cast of “marginal” characters, as opposed to the dominant symbolic hierarchies: fearless ‘caboclos’, who personify the untamed depths of the forest; ‘pretos velhos’, old black slaves with a life time of labour behind them, who have the realist wisdom gained from a life of suffering; ‘exus’ and ‘pombas giras’, identified with people of the street, who do not hide behind conventional social masks and who move easily through the tortuous ways of human conflict; and children, who have not yet reached the age of reason. These are the guides who give protection and advice. They are far from official authority, be it secular or religious, and possess powers outside the realms of traditional bureaucratic structures. Such powers are usually discarded by official ideologies, but find a home in Umbanda, where they can give a positive meaning to experience and destiny.

Vodoo

There are African priests who travel to Brazil to learn about their own religion. This is an extraordinary example of cultural survival and the development of traditions which were thought to have been killed by the slave trade. Yorubas, Dahomeyans, Ashantis, Bantus have all contributed to Afro – Brazilian religion and have introduced different rituals. However, the cult known as Jeje-Nago was the main influence from the nineteenth century onwards. A similar phenomenon occurred in the Caribbean, with Voodoo in Haiti and Santeria in Cuba. Devotees from three areas – The Brazilian coastal regions, the Caribbean and East Africa – have many sacred rites in common, and there is still considerable scope for further development of their relationship.

The vitality of African tradition in Brazil is evidenced in the particular way it spread. It was never restricted to a single ethnic identity. The symbolism of the colour black and ancestral memories of Africa are heavily stressed, it is true, and they offer a perennial source of inspiration to black movements. However, for believers, the colour black is not the essential identifying feature of the religion. Oxum is yellow or gold, Oxossi is forest green, Yemanjá is sea blue, Xangô is red and white, and so on, through the colours of the rainbow.

Religious emphasis is not placed on the historical facts of the splitting up of whole tribes, the slave trade, the terrible ocean crossings or the violence of slave labour. The rituals and myths of Candomblé have little to say about history. What matters is the presence of the orixás in the sacred spaces, and their influence on the minds and conduct of people. Candomblé invests relationships with a cosmic dimension, both in mythical times and in life as we know it.

Its approachable myths, combined with the syncretism tendencies of Catholicism in Brazil, resulted in the truths of Candomblé being recognized as such and accepted by large numbers of Brazilians, whether they were black, mulatto or white. Candomblé was always condemned by the Church, but the clerical establishment never enjoyed great influence among the masses. It was persecuted by the State, with particular violence during the rule of President Getúlio Vargas, but the police who used to break into Candomblé premises were themselves often fearful followers of the cult. This persecution grew less frequent from the 1950s onwards, and the cult and its membership expanded. Cultural changes have seen it dignified in literature, music, cinema and TV, and it has acquired a glamour which has attracted even the elite of society.

Its influence on the new and growing Umbanda movement brought the cult of the orixás to a wider circle, including the middle classes. A survey in the 1980s recorded around 16,000 Umbanda centres in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, for example, the majority of them involving the descendants of Germans, Italians, Poles and other European immigrants. There are devotees of the orixás among Japanese and Jews in Brazil. Candomblé Houses and Umbanda Centres proliferate in Argentina through the Brazilian influence.

The aesthetic sophistication of Candomblé rituals have undoubtedly contributed to the attraction it exerts on people in general, and in artistic circles in particular. The open ceremonies in every house of the cult are like parties. The divinities that manifest themselves there do not come to preach or to give counsel. They come to express the life force, in dance. They do this in solemn mode, following a strict logic of ritual, submissive to the sound of the drums and the chanting. They are dressed ceremoniously and perform ritual gestures to identify each orixá. The proceedings invariably end with a meal for everybody present, when the sacred foods which have formed part of the event are eaten.

Candomblé Houses are constantly concerned with the maintenance of relations between the sacred and the profane. The area is carefully divided up, with a large covered area for the feast, a small room for the initiates, the ‘Peji’, to which access is restricted and where the sacred objects are kept, the shrines of each orixá, where access is also restricted, the area for the sacred plants, the reception room for devotees etc. Together they form a whole as complex as the cult’s hierarchy.

There are the obligations towards each orixá, the initiation ceremonies, the individual participation of the devotees, the divinations, the readings of the sea shells, a variety of private rites. The difficult reconciliation of the distinct powers that make up a Candomblé House and the relationship with the outside world are matters which must be carefully attended to, following a meticulous aesthetic ritual. The authority of a ‘lalorixá’ (mother of the saint) or a ‘babalorixá’ (father of the saint’) quite rightly depends on her or his mastery of these matters. Knowledge of what to do and the reasons for each traditional gesture make up the vast inheritance of symbols personified in the figure of the mother or the father of the saint.

Religion

Brazil is a Catholic country, but Brazil is also a country of religious openness, of a variety of faiths, of syncretism. This is what gives a sort of bitter – sweet character to Brazilian religiosity.

The country was officially Catholic for four centuries, from the Portuguese discovery in 1500 to the end of the Empire in 1889, and the law officially proscribed other religions as illegal. In its status as “Patron”, the Church formed an alliance with the kings of Portugal, and later with the Emperors of Brazil.

However, many official institutions did not penetrate into the society that was being formed in Brazil to any great extent. The Church, as well as the State, was a centralized organization in the capital, and became less and less influential the further afield it spread in the colonial territories. This institutional fragility is a feature of Latin-American Catholicism to this day.

About 80% of the present parishes of Brazil were organized in the twentieth century, and 50% since the 1950s. The parishes cover very extensive areas and serve large populations. While a parish in France has an average area of 15 km2 and serves around 1,283 of the faithful, in South America these numbers jump to 1,000 km2 and 14,036 people.

In consequence, “Dispensation” became the predominant characteristic. The priest would journey through the vast area for which he was responsible, “dispensing” the faithful from performance of their canonical obligations: he baptised, performed marriages, preached and “regularized situations”, before moving on to the next village. The faithful remained behind and the priest passed through. This resulted in a kind of Catholicism which, in the popular saying, was characterized by “few priests, few masses and a lot of festivals”.

Few priests and few masses meant little control in matters of doctrine. The majority of Brazilian Catholics take the official teachings of the Church with a considerable dose of salt. The notion of orthodoxy itself is almost absent. Nowhere in Brazilian religion is there the assumption that, for the sake of doctrinal coherence, people must believe in a single version of the sacred teachings.

In practice, the devotions of Brazilian Catholics are guided by the liturgical calendar. With or without a priest, every day is a saint’s day, presenting itself as an opportunity for festivities and every kind of private devotion. Shrines in the home, chapels by the roadside, processions, pilgrimages, vows, recitations of the rosary, sisterhoods, all these customs could be practised under lay leadership and led by local revellers.

The cult of the saints was, therefore, held in high regard, while the Eucharist was relegated to second place. The “protection” given by patron saints in the face of the uncertainties of life became a central part of many beliefs and practices. Masses were undoubtedly important, but only in special circumstances or extraordinary situations. According to the figures issued by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE – PNAD, 1988), only 17% of Catholics go to mass regularly once a week.

Since it is hardly regulated by the official Church, the cult of the saints has opened itself up to a series of syncretic links. In Amazonia, where indigenous traditions are stronger, Catholic saints of transatlantic origin form a counterpoint with spirits who inhabit “the depths” of forests and rivers. Pajelança, practised by lay priests, guides the Catholic faithful in the use of sacred herbs and in the rituals involving “enchanted” beings who live in the depths of the waters.

Even in the Colonial era, the Inquisition had warned of African influences on the beliefs of the Portuguese in Brazil. Combining saints of medieval origin, whose feast days involved everyone, and spirits venerated by the slaves, who were sometimes taken up by the slave owners, Brazilian society weaved an intricate web of religious practices.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Nago traditions combined with ancestral memories of Africa and resulted in cults which spread throughout Brazil. Candomblé in Bahia, Xangô in Recife, Mina in Maranhão, are all varieties of a common set of beliefs and practices. In each case, the Afro-Brazilian cult merged with the calendar of the Catholic Church, adopted the observances of Lent and Easter as a sign of respect for the great drama of Christ’s death and resurrection, and combined the feasts of the orixás with the feasts of the saints.

The original differences between European and African religion were marked, but participation in each other’s beliefs crossed the boundaries of race and class. In Brazil, religion does not imply an exclusive cultural identity. Blacks and whites share rituals by day and by night, and the beliefs handed down by the slaves are widely held today among the middle classes.

A third current of belief was introduced by Kardecist Spiritualism, which has grown in Brazil since the nineteenth century. Although it is based on Christianity, the distinguishing feature of spiritualism is communication with souls. This helps the individual soul to find and follow the right path in the vast process of evolution, which it does through successive reincarnations.

Contact with the souls of the dead was already an important practice in the Iberian tradition, associated with the medieval doctrine of purgatory. Even today, every Monday is devoted to the souls of the dead, and candles are lit throughout the country, illuminating the prayers for the dead. Spiritualism has developed this aspect of Portuguese religiosity, lending it ritual solemnity and a new theoretical basis.

Saints, orixás and souls made up such a rich tapestry of spiritual beings that a new religion came into being, with decidedly Brazilian characteristics. This was Umbanda, a creation of the twentieth century. Umbanda venerates the Catholic saints and the African orixás, but there is also room for spiritual guides of another kind, namely disembodied spirits of purely local significance who do not form part of the hierarchies of conventional religions.

Examples of such spirits are the ‘caboclo’, a free and daring figure from the forest; the ‘preto velho’ (old black man), a slave worn out by a lifetime of work, but full of wisdom; the ‘exus’ and the ‘povo das ruas’ (mischievous little spirits), such as the rascal Zé Pilintra, the dancing prostitutes, the gypsies or the cattleman, and the naughty children. Umbanda demonstrated by its success that Brazilian Catholics love to listen to voices from the margins of society.

This readiness to assimilate new beliefs has shown its potential with advances in communications. Japanese immigrants brought with them beliefs like Perfect Liberty or the Messianic Church, which have attracted significant numbers of Brazilians from different backgrounds. Oriental meditation systems, Bhuddism, Sufism, esoteric mysticism, ufology, all have found fertile territory for expansion, particularly among the middle classes.

In the midst of this profusion of spiritual beliefs, there have been some important reactions in recent decades. Two in particular stand out: Liberation Theology and the evangelical and pentecostal movements. Both focus their attention on the central thesis of Christian tradition, ignoring, or even condemning, communications with souls, guides, orixás, avatars and saints. Their message is one of reform and is likely to influence the modernization of Brazilian religious culture.

Liberation Theology reached its height in the 1970s and 1980s. It advocated a historical interpretation of the death and resurrection of Christ, in a return to the messianic tradition of Judaism. organized in small communities for the purpose of Bible reading (the Basic Church Communities – Comunidades Eclesiais de Base – CEBs) or in pastoral groups devoted to social movements (land, indigenous peoples, children etc), it developed a social vision of the Christian promise of salvation.

The evangelicals and pentecostals are also organized in local congregations, with a high rate of participation by members, where the message of salvation is particularly directed to individuals and their interpersonal relationships. Illness, family conflicts, money and job problems, are all the object of prayer with a view to cure and redemption. Inspired by the presence of the Holy Spirit, evangelical and pentecostal religions have shown impressive growth. They constitute the major religious phenomenon of the end of the twentieth century. Their message is that it is necessary to be “born again”, to turn one’s back on the past, and open oneself to radical changes in one’s way of life, inspired solely and exclusively by Jesus Christ.

Catholicism is a wide ranging religion, which seeks to embrace all the varieties of human experience. Brazilian Catholicism has fulfilled this mission by opening itself up to various syncretist combinations. The result is a religious culture which is capable of harbouring as many views as are presented to it in the history of communication between peoples. It has not been free of conflicts, but it has dealt with them, at the level of religious belief, with a remarkable degree of tolerance and a veritable curiosity as to truths which are yet to be revealed.