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Candomblé is an Afro-Brazilian religion that emerged in the 19th century, particularly in Brazil, from the mixture of African religious traditions brought by enslaved people, mainly from the region of present-day Benin and Nigeria, with elements of Catholicism and indigenous traditions.
Its origins go back to the cultural resistance of enslaved Africans, who sought to preserve their beliefs and practices in the midst of oppression and attempts at Christianisation.
In Candomblé, the orixás, divine entities that represent forces of nature and aspects of human life, play a central role.
Rituals include dances, songs, offerings and drumming, which aim to establish communication with these spiritual beings. Terreiros, the sacred spaces where ceremonies take place, are centres of worship and communal living.
The religion also plays an important role in shaping the cultural and ethnic identity of many Brazilians, reflecting the rich diversity of the country’s African heritage.
Over the years, Candomblé has faced challenges, including religious persecution, but it remains a vibrant and respected practice in contemporary society.
See also History of Afro-Brazilian religions in Bahia
História mitos e verdades sobre a religião do candomblé
Candomblé na Bahia, origem e religiosidade do baiano
History and Origin of Candomblé
Candomblé is a religion derived from African animism in which orishas, voduns or nkisis are worshipped, depending on the nation.
Of totemic and family origin, it is one of the most widely practised African religions, with more than three million followers worldwide, especially in Brazil.
Candomblé has great practical value for everyday life, and this ancient slave religion stands in contrast to traditional religious systems such as Christianity and Buddhism.
And it sanctions identities, because every individual has an Orixá to whom they belong, who defines each person’s behaviour and inner desires, without distinguishing between good and evil.
In each one of us, there can be the maternal side of Oxum, the implication of Nana or the combativeness of Ogum.
Candomblé festivals take place all year round in Bahia. Each house, each nation (Keto or Nagô, Ijexá, Angola, Gêge, Cabinda, Congo, etc.), each group has its own cycle.
And in the gentleness and stillness of Orun, which are in constant harmony with Ayé, confirming the link between us and those who have passed on.
Candomblé is a word of black African origin that designates a gathering of cult followers, also known in other parts of Latin America where black slavery took place.
These Candomblé meetings are held in places prepared for such ceremonies, usually in rustic sheds and built according to certain precepts: the chants are generally in the Nagô language, rarely in Portuguese, and reflect the language of the people.
To the sound of chants and dances, the atabaques form the basis of the percussion music in candomblés, which is more than an African cult; it is part of a dogma, a cult and a morality, having its clergy, where it brings together the constructive elements of a religion.
When African slaves were brought to Brazil to work on the plantations, the Portuguese authorities ordered them to be baptised within six months, but the blacks continued to worship their idols.
The colonisers were unable to make them Christians, as they clung to their beliefs and faith. When they were freed, they took their primitive religion with them.
When they were finally catechised in a vague way, they were baptised, but they understood nothing of the religion they were forcibly taught, which confused their minds, because Catholicism had since become a means of disguising their traditional beliefs.
In reality, the saint was not worshipped, but the corresponding Orisha.
Everything was just a façade to hide a secret ritual.
Slavery developed an inferiority complex in black people, because the predominant white religion was part of a superior culture, in other words: that of the masters.
Whilst black people elevated their beliefs from a lower to a higher plane, syncretism was a phenomenon of ascension that was always desired more or less on the sly.
For this reason, black Africans limited themselves to juxtaposing Catholic saints with the gods of their beliefs, considering them to be of equal rank, although perfectly distinct.
Candomblé has its own beliefs, deities, dignitaries, faithful, very complicated ceremonies, places of worship, altars and sacred objects.
Their Orixás (deities) in Candomblé personify a natural phenomenon (storm, thunder, rainbow, illness, etc.), a human activity (hunting, harvesting, etc.) or feelings (friendship, fidelity, etc.).
The king of these deities is Olorum, father of the gods, invisible and sovereign creator, who has passed on his powers to the Orixás, who rule the world in his name, but are a little evil, and it is best to avoid their wrath.
Olorum has two sons, Obatalá (heaven) and Odudua (earth), and is surrounded by a court of deities who are the Orixás.
It’s impossible to pin down a precise date for the introduction of black slaves to Brazil, because almost half a century before it was discovered, the African slave trade already existed in Europe, with Portugal as its headquarters.
Since black slavery in Brazil was contemporary with its colonisation, its great traffic began just under 50 years after the discovery of Brazil.
These involuntary migrants brought their conceptions of the world, philosophy and religion: Jejes, Marrins, Yorubas, Fons, Angolas, Hausás, Fantis, Ashautis, Malês, Fulas, Congos, among others.
These are just some of the most representative races, each with their own beliefs.
Here, regardless of culture or ethnicity, they were mixed according to the interests of the slave traders, spreading little by little through the slave quarters of Bahia, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and, later, in the urban centres.
For more than three centuries, black men, women and children from the African continent were brought in as slaves.
Until the advent of the Eusebio de Queiroz Law, enacted on 4 September 1850, and even a few years later, members of various African nations came to Brazil, bringing with them a whole cultural and religious tradition that strongly influenced the formation of the Brazilian people.
There are several published works on African religiosity in Brazil, but these publications are mostly guides for those who profess Candomblé, Pajelança and other branches of the spiritual sect, without, however, offering a broader folkloric view of Candomblé.
The Bahian ethnologist Édison Carneiro, author of several studies on the subject, such as ‘Religiões Negras’ (1936), ‘Candomblés da Bahia’ (1948), and ‘Antologia do negro brasileiro’ (1950), is to date the greatest authority on the subject.
Many authors confuse the origins of these blacks, classifying them either by tribes, genetic names or simple ports of origin.
Ministry of Finance Circular No. 29 of 13 May 1891, signed by then minister Rui Barbosa, ordered the incineration of all documents relating to black slavery in Brazil, thus preventing scholars and researchers from discovering the true origin of black Brazilians.
Due to the lack of documents, historians have calculated: Visconde de Taunay estimates that 3,600,000 blacks were brought to Brazil, while Roberto Simonsen estimates 3,300,000, and Maurício Goular between 3,500,000 and 3,600,000, in the period 1538/1850.
The dignitaries of the Gêge-Nagô candomblés (small black nations from the Slave Coast, of the Iorube group) and Congo-Angola proudly claim their African ancestry, boast of the purity of their traditions and despise the candomblés of the caboclos, considering them abominable mixtures, accusing them of tainting the venerable rites with indigenous practices.
The most important Candomblé ceremonies are accompanied by dances, melopoeia and animal offerings: sheep, goats, goats and chickens.
These ceremonies take place in the hut, which is often decorated with garlands and signs such as ‘Viva Oula’ or ‘Viva Xangô’.
The Orixás have the right to be worshipped every week, and on the days determined by tradition, the filhos-de-santo present delicacies to their spells, fill the quartinhas with fresh water for bathing and wear the saint’s pearl necklaces and their colours.
Syncretism is an ancient phenomenon, dating back to the beginning of colonisation and already present in the Palmares quilombo, both in gestures or rites and in the similarity between African gods and saints.
This phenomenon is also widespread throughout Catholic America, and is found in countries such as Cuba and Haiti, where the Orixá can at the same time be a saint, and vice versa. Here, they come together in African mysticism and Catholic mysticism.
In cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, due to urban disorganisation, Afro-descendant religion tends to take on an increasingly magical aspect.
Religious syncretism in Brazil, especially in the context of contact between enslaved blacks and Catholicism, reflects a rich and complex cultural adaptation.
When enslaved blacks encountered the religious practices of white masters, they recognised the power attributed to prayers to Catholic saints, especially for the cure of illnesses or protection against misfortune.
The ex-votos present in the chapels, as visible signs of miracles, also had an impact on this perception. This allowed black Africans to recognise the existence of an undeniable force in the religion of their oppressors.
However, syncretism manifested itself in different ways, depending on the cultures and traditions of the peoples who were assimilated. The fusion of religious elements does not follow a general rule, but varies according to the traditions in contact.
This phenomenon can be seen particularly in Candomblé, where African Orixás are syncretised with Catholic saints.
Candomblé festivities have a defined and ceremonial structure. They begin at dawn with the matança, which consists of the sacrifice of animals as a holocaust to the Orixás.
This part of the ceremony has a reserved and intimate character and is restricted to those initiated into the religion.
The Iabás, or cooks, are responsible for preparing the meat of the sacrificed animals, removing the Erês (minor elements) and carefully organising the offerings.
The food, both the meat and the dried food, is prepared especially for each Orixá and arranged in the assentamento, which is the sacred place corresponding to each deity. Only in the late afternoon, around dusk, does the public ceremony begin.
The shed where the celebration takes place is decorated with coconut leaves and paper banners, creating a festive and solemn atmosphere.
At the centre of the Candomblé yard is the Padé de Exu, an offering dedicated to Exu, who is the messenger of the Orixás and the mediator between human beings and the gods.
Exu is always the first to be dealt with in any obligation, as his job is to ensure that the party takes place in peace and harmony, as well as protecting the gate and preventing the entry of evil spirits that could hinder the smooth running of the event.
Candomblé da Bahia is a religious expression deeply rooted in Bahian culture, reflecting the complexity of Afro-Brazilian beliefs and their interaction with Catholicism, making up a syncretic spirituality that influences the religiosity of the Bahian people to this day.
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