We explain what candomblé is, how it originated and what its beliefs are. In addition, we tell you how it differs from Umbanda.
What is candomblé?
Candomblé is a religion of Afro-American origin, widespread in different countries of South America: mainly in Brazil, but also in Argentina, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay. Its practice is a direct legacy of colonial America and the hybridization that took place between the different cultures African women who arrived on the continent in condition of slavery, which include Yoruba, Bantu, Dahomé and Mahin.
It is a religion animistic, in which they worship the orishas, that is, to the spirits or guardian deities of the different fields of natural life and of the different emotions and human needs. Widespread in Brazil, it is practiced by approximately 3 million citizens (1.5% of the total population of this country) and its main place of worship is in the city of Salvador de Bahía.
Candomblé should not be confused with other American religions of African origin, such as the Umbanda, batuque or Caribbean Santeria, although they share strong cultural and ethnic ties. Candomblé is currently part of the cultural heritage and the folklore Brazilians, even though their worship It was historically persecuted and even criminalized by some social and religious sectors.
Origin of candomblé
Like other religions and cults of African origin, the principles of candomblé came to America in the 16th century, in the traditions of African slaves brought to colonial plantations as labor.
In the case of Brazil, these slaves belonged to the ethnicities Bantu, Yoruba, Ewe and Fon, mainly native to present-day Nigeria and Benin. Although they spoke different languages and practiced their religion in slightly different ways, once on American soil, cultural assimilation and hybridization took place between them, sowing the seeds of various Afro-Brazilian cults, such as candomblé.
The "formal" appearance of candomblé, however, took place at the beginning of the 19th century, when the first temple (terreiro, in Portuguese) dedicated to worship: Ilê Axé Iyá Nasseither Ok, also known as the "Terreiro de Casa Blanca".
Its foundation is attributed to Iyá Nassô, a freed slave and first priestess (mãe-de-santo) of the cult, which had participated in the foundation of other earlier temples in the city. But it is said that in 1835 her family was accused of instigating an uprising among the slaves and they were forced to return to Africa. Then, one of her old companions, named Marcelina, took over the leadership of the temple until her death in 1885.
New terreiros emerged later, as a result of internal disputes and disagreements between the faithful, but always under the disapproving gaze of the Catholic Church and the upper classes of the society, who feared that a slave revolt like the one that occurred in Haiti at the beginning of the 19th century would replicate in Brazil. Thus, for example, in the first republican constitutions of Brazil, cults of African origin were indirectly prohibited, since the use of talismans, magic, spiritism and other important practices in candomblé.
However, the first decades of the 20th century allowed for the public resurgence of Candomblé, along with other African religions, to the extent that Brazilian society accepted to define itself as the product of miscegenation and multiracial in nature. Around 1930, the first academic studies on candomblé emerged, which allowed for greater standardization and greater public recognition, thanks to the contributions of academics such as Raimundo Nina Rodrigues, Edison Carneiro and Ruth Landes.
This context was also conducive to the emergence of the Bahian Federation of Afro-Brazilian Cults, among other institutions that recognized and defended the African religious legacy. This greatly contributed to the respect and acceptance of candomblé. Even the mãe Menininha do Gantois, spiritual leader (iyalorixá) from the also famous terreiro Ilê Axé Iyá Omin Iyamassê, was often recognized as a symbol of Brazil and Brazilian folklore.
Candomblé beliefs
Candomblé is a totemic and animist religion, which believes in the existence of a spirit of nature comparable to the anima human, whose specific aspects are distributed among a group of deities calls orishas, voduns either nkisis, and who act as patrons of the humanity. Candomblé practitioners, therefore, worship them and make offerings and gifts, depending on what the deity "asks for".
above the orishas There is, however, a deity more or less equivalent to the monotheistic god, that is, a supreme god responsible for all things, who is Olorun, Zambia either Mawu. The existence of minor deities does not contradict the authority of this main god who maintains the universal balance, and who also rules over the afterlife or the world of the dead.
The difference in the names of the Candomblé deities is due to the syncretic and diverse nature of the cult, which has roots in different African languages. On the other hand, the religious calendar of this religion coincides on many occasions with the Catholic one, which is due to the fact that in colonial times the African cult was disguised through the Catholic celebrations themselves.
Differences between Candomblé and Umbanda
Candomblé and Umbanda are Afro-Brazilian religions, inheritors of the culture that the African slaves brought to America and mixed there with the indigenous cultures and with the Portuguese Christian. Both respond to cultural and religious patterns that were more or less common in Africa at the time, that is, they were shared to a certain extent by different ethnic groups, although in different languages and with particularities. However, these are not equivalent religions.
In fact, Candomblé is a much older religion that more faithfully reflects the African culture of colonial slaves. Their dances, offerings and rites they are, at the same time, much more diverse, since candomblé is not practiced in a single, standardized way. Even so, in its celebrations, Candomblé does not usually have mediums and spiritual possessions, which is extremely common in Umbanda.
For its part, Umbanda is a younger cult, born at the beginning of the 20th century, and with a greater degree of syncretism, that is, of hybridization between indigenous, African and Catholic cultures. At the same time, it is a more institutionalized, standardized and theologically consolidated cult than candomblé, which is more traditional.