Retrieving African Traditional Religion from the Fringes Umbanda and the Brazilian Traditions as a Source
Main Article Content
Keywords
Syncretism Studies, African Traditional Religion, Bantu Traditional Religion, Umbanda, Ritual Studies, Bantu Divination
Abstract
“Bantu Religion“ is an abstraction, an ideal-type of the consensus between different forms among the Bantu peoples. With the arrival of Bantu people in Brazil five centuries ago, a process of amalgamation began. Core features and structure have reasserted themselves interacting with non-Bantu religios and cultures around, assimilating ideas and practices. According to a systemic theory of syncretism this follows definite rules. It will be shown that Umbanda has preserved a core of Bantu beliefs, ritual practises and spiritual perceptions, in spite of all syncretistic adoptions. Thus Umbanda remains essentially a vital and complex Bantu Traditional Religion in a largely non-Bantu cultural environment persevering in an ongoing syncretistic process. It is thus a source for the retrieval of an ideal-type of African Traditional Religion. In this analytical perspective the comparison of rituals by the water in Umbanda and in South African Bantu culture presented in this study discloses a deeper understanding of their meaning and essence.
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References
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Berglund, Axel-Ivar. Zulu Thought-Patterns and Symbolism. London: C. Hurst, 1976, (Studia Missionalia Upsaliensia, 22).
Bernard, Penelope, "Sacred Water Sites and Indigenous Healers in Southern Africa: The Need to Protect Knowledge, Nature and Resource Rights". [presentation at:] Indigenous Knowledge Conference, 2001. URL: http://iportal.usask.ca/purl/IKC-2001-Bernard.pdf
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Boyer, Véronique. "Le don et l'initiation. De l'impact de la littérature sur les cultes de possession au Brésil". In: L'Homme, 1996, tome 36 n°138, 7-24. URL: http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/hom_0439-4216_1996_num_36_138_370072.pdfhttps://doi.org/10.3406/hom.1996.370072
Brown, Diana DeGroat, Umbanda: Religion and Politics in Urban Brazil, New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1986.
Brumana, Fernando Giobellina and Elda Gonzales Martinez. Spirits from the Margin. Umbanda in Sao Paulo. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Uppsaliensis, 1989.
Chidester, David, Chirevo Kwenda, Robert Petty, Judy Tobler and Darrel Warren. African Traditional Religion in South Africa - an Annotated Bibliography. London: Greenwood Press, 1997, (Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies, Number 42).https://doi.org/10.5040/9798400608216
De Campos Vieira, Lurdes and Rubens Saraceni. Manual doutrinário, ritualistico e comportamental Umbandista. Sao Paulo: Editora Madras, 2009.
De Souza Gomes, Vera Braga . Umbanda sem Estigmas - Fundamentos Esotéricos do Ritual da Umbanda. Rio de Janeiro: Mudra, 1984.
Espirito Santo, Diana. "Entités fluides. Une ontologie de la transformation des terreiros d'Umbanda à Rio de Janeiro". [conference presentation, date: before 2013]. URL: https://www.academia.edu/13295224/Entit%C3%A9s_fluides
Janzen, John. Ngoma - Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1992, 101. URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/25901
Kleinhempel, Ullrich R. "The socio-cultural migration of Umbanda - challenges for interpretation." [Presentation at the] XXI Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), Erfurt, Germany, August 23-29, 2015. URL: https://www.academia.edu/15353533/Presentation_The_sociocultural_migration_of_Umbanda__challenges_for_interpretation._at_XXI_Quinquennial_World_Congress_of_the_International_Association_for_the_History_of_Religions_IAHR_Erfurt_Germany_August_23-29_2015
Kriel, Johann. "Be(com)ing a cult member or spirit medium: the Malopo cult in South Africa revisited". Paper presented at the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) conference EASA08 on: Experiencing diversity and mutuality of the) 26 - 29th August, 2008, Ljubljana, 26/08/2008 - 29/08/2008.
Laubscher, Bernard J. F. The Pagan Soul. London: Neville Spearman Ltd., 1975. URL: https://www.google.de/urlsa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi6nsTB8P7bAhUIbxQKHXUpBqYQFggtMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownloads.astrotheology.za.org%2Ftps.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3Og4qbRtLhmLrMSqPUilx6
Lewis-Williams, David and David Pearce. San Spirituality - Roots, Expressions and Social Consequences. Cape Town: Double Storey Books, 2014.
Lopes, Manoel (ed.). Textos Doutrinários do Núcleo de Estudos Espirituais Mata Verde, publicados no Blog de Estudos durante o período de 2010 a 2014. Santos, S.P., 2014. URL: http://mataverde.org/arquivos/livro_textos_doutrinarios.pdf
Mattes, Claudio G. Afrikanische Religiosität und die Neureligionen in Brasilien. Tübingen / Porto Alegre: Diss. Phil. Univ. Tübingen, 2004. URL: https://www.terrasagrada.info/fileadmin/user_upload/matthes_neureligionen.pdf
John S. Mbiti. Introduction to African Religion. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1991 (2nd rev. ed.)
Mofolo, Thomas. Chaka. (translated from the SeSotho original, Morija, Lesotho, 1925, by Daniel P. Kunene), Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books, 1981.
Muller, Carol Anne. Rites of Fertility and the Sacrifice of Desire - Nazarite Womens' Performance in South Africa. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1999.
Nel, Philip. "African spirituality and space". in: Post, Paul, Philip Nel and Wouter van Beek (eds.). Sacred Spaces and Contested Identities - Space and Ritual Dynamics in Europe and Africa. Trento, N.J.: African World Press, 2014, 279 - 300.
"Tudo sobre a nação nagô [Blog], the entry: "Almas e Angola". 27th September, 2009. URL: http://catiacmamtuosobreanaonag.blogspot.de/2009/09/almas-e-angola.html
Trindade (Hanamatan), Diamantino Fernandes. Umbanda e a Sua História. São Paulo: Ícone Editora Ltda., 1991.
Verger, Pierre. Flux et reflux de la traite des Nègres entre le Golf de Bénin et Bahía de Todos os Santos du XVII au XIX siècle. Paris, 1968.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111728476
Homenagem a oxum e obrigação de cabeça [video]. by: William Mallmann, 17. 12. 2013. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zlPbRqm_B0
Kleinhempel, Ullrich Relebogilwe. "Contemporary Mysteries' Cult of Umbanda - video lecture, 8th ASEM conference". [Presentation delivered at:] The 8th ASEM International Conference Mystic and Esoteric Movements in Theory and Practice: Mysticism and Esotericism in the World of Technology". St. Petersburg, 24. - 26. 3. 2016, АИЭМ (eds.). URL: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=5g2E7glQyAs&list=PLJM0tVbQE3ubVNQQSFYEqA68ho1JR- MCe&index=18
Rivas Neto, Francisco (Babá Rivas T'Ogyion). [videolist]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/user/pairivas/videos (as of 8th July, 2016)
Rivas Neto, Francisco (Babá Rivas T'Ogyion). As religiões afro-brasileiras e o inconsciente [video]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgbLc9Sq45Q (uploaded on: 23. 10. 2010)
Rivas Neto, Francisco (Babá Rivas T'Ogyion). [video], Ifá et pemba são fundamentais na Umbanda esotérica. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHh00uern7w (uploaded on 17. 6. 2013).
Rivas Neto, Francisco (Babá Rivas T'Ogyion). Iniciação como terapia da alma [video]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGuRG0DOsl0 (uploaded on: 16. 06. 2010) https://doi.org/10.4067/S0717-95532010000200006
Rivas Neto, Francisco (Babá Rivas T'Ogyion). Religioes Afro-Brasilerias - A Divindade Suprema- Espíritos [video]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Oeh0hd2ec4 (uploaded on: 9. 10. 2011)
Rivas Neto, Francisco (Babá Rivas T'Ogyion). Religiões Afro-Brasileira - os terreiros na academia [video]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK6xJQvK7pg (uploadedon 31. 3. 2013)
Rivas Neto, Francisco (Babá Rivas T'Ogyion). Religioes Afro-Brasilerias: sacralização do corpo [video]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iKO3miUSck (uploaded on 23. 08. 2012)
Rivas Neto, Francisco (Babá Rivas T'Ogyion). Teologia Afro-brasileira: Ori-Bara [video]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsO_lTBzp-A (uploaded on 11. 6. 2011)
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Sep 30, 2024
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Retrieving African Traditional Religion from the Fringes: Umbanda and the Brazilian Traditions as a Source. (2024). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 4(1), 67-81. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujsrad/article/view/3401
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How to Cite
Retrieving African Traditional Religion from the Fringes: Umbanda and the Brazilian Traditions as a Source. (2024). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 4(1), 67-81. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujsrad/article/view/3401