In the late 18th century, the influx of enslaved
people from West Africa to Brazil intensified, and
by the mid-19th century more than half the African
population in the State of Bahia, for example, was
West African. But for three centuries before this, a
large majority of enslaved Africans had come from
the southern and central regions of the continent,
particularly Angola. Different regions of Brazil
carry the legacy of specific African people. In the
northeastern state of Maranhão, the culture of
today’s Benin prevailed. The Congo and Angola
matrix is dominant in the Southeast and in parts of
the Northeast. In Bahia, the prevailing traditions
are Fon, orjeje(equivalent to the Cubanarara),
and Yoruba, ornagô(Cubanlucumi).
Out of AfricaCandomblé refers to a variety of liturgies specific
to “nations” and the ethnic identities, whether
real or idealized, that they represent. Some
Candomblés are considered to be purejeje(Fon).
There are Congo and Angola Candomblés, in
which a creole language based on Kicongo and
Kimbundu is used, but the structures, symbols,
and practices differ little from those of Yoruba-
Fon tradition. Caboclo Candomblé is a variant of
Angola Candomblé articulated in honor of the
original inhabitants of the land calledCaboclos.
This syncretic tradition joining African and
Brazilian indigenous religion also includes Jurema
worship, centered around the sacred tree of that
name. The Batuque of southernmost Rio Grande
do Sul State, the Xangô of Pernambuco State, and
Maranhão’s Mina worship, are all examples of
the Yoruba-Fon matrix crossed with Southern
and Central African substrata. The ubiquitous
and eclectic Umbanda blends in various European
and Asian influences as well.
Thus, the striking characteristic of Candomblé
is its power of synthesis, not only among the
diverse African traditions it incorporates, but also
within the traditions. For example, ancestor wor-
ship in Africa has a domestic tone appropriate to
each household. Deities are identified with specific
urban territories: In Yoruba tradition, Obatala is
worshipped in Ijesha, Shango in Oyo, Oshun
in Oshogbo, and Yemanjá in Abeokuta. But life in
chattel slavery on a strange continent did not
favor such local or domestic worship. In Brazil,
there were no individual family huts, but a collec-
tive slave dwelling called thesenzalathat housed
a plantation’s whole workforce, often hundreds of
people. All the deities were brought under one roof
where they could be called forth, worshipped, and
consulted.
Ancestor worship, linked viscerally to the land,
was a painful dilemma for displaced Africans
deprived of household and family context. Cabula
and Omolocô were early forms of worship of
South and Central African origin that constitute
the roots of today’s Umbanda. In them the
Bacuroswere supposedly nature spirits, but the
name Bacuro comes from the KicongoMbakulu,
elder or ancestor.Ba-kulu Mpanguwere the first
ancestors from the time of creation. The Guinea is
another early religious practice in which elders
and predecessors were worshipped as Tata
Massambi, “fathers who pray.” These Bacuros
and Tatas appear today in Umbanda as Pretos
Velhos, “old black ones” or African ancestors.
Organized ancestor worship in Yoruba tradi-
tion, the Egungun, was concentrated in Bahia,
beginning in the 19th century on the island of
Itaparica with the Vera Cruz and Ilê Agboulá ter-
reiros. In Salvador, Mestre Didi (Deoscoredes
Maximiliano dos Santos), Alapini (highest
authority) of the Egungun, founded the Ilé Ase
Asipá in 1990.Beliefs and Ritual
The Candomblé comprises a philosophy and
worldview that emphasizes the oneness of the only
Creator, Olorum, whose transcendence is absolute.
The cosmos is composed of the material world,
aiyê—realm of the living, meaning all material
forms of life in the universe—and the spiritual
world, orum—realm of the ancestors, the yet
unborn, and the Orisha. A continuing flow of
exchange and reposition of the life force,axé, main-
tains the oneness and harmonic balance of the
cosmos. This flow is assured partly by human inter-
vention through offerings,ebó, made to the Orisha,
the forces of nature symbolically representing facets
of reality and human personality. The Orisha are
intermediary gods with whom human beings inter-
act via the offices of Exu (eh-shu’).152 Candomblé