Brazilian Syncretic Religions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Research indicates that 44% of Brazilians have two religions.[1] Official data from the Brazilian census indicate that 1,011,507 Brazilians have two religions or follow a syncretic religion.[2] Because to miscegenation it is common for a person to have a father of one race and religion and a mother of another race and another religion, naturally that person can adopt the two beliefs or follow a religion that mixes the two beliefs.[3]
.jpg)
Many Afro-Brazilian religions are called Macumba,[4] but generally macumba is a vague word for any religion from Africa.[5] Tambor de Mina is a highly syncretic religious tradition, combining cultural elements of colonial Brazil and Portuguese culture with elements of the religious culture of the first Brazilian African slaves.[6] Candomblé is an Afro-Brazilian religion that mixes African beliefs with Catholic art and visuals. Many criticize that candomble is considered a syncretic religion, arguing that slaves needed to adopt Catholic elements so as not to be reprimanded by slave owners.[7]
Santo Daime, is a religion founded by Raimundo Irineu Serra known as Mestre Irineu, Raimundo was a Catholic who served as a soldier in the Brazilian Amazon, during that period he had contact with indigenous cults involving the sacred ayahuasca plant, used by the natives of the Brazilian Amazon.[8] Santo Daime is a religion that mixes Marianism with native Brazilian beliefs. Daime is an abbreviation of the Portuguese phrase 'give me love' (Dai-me Amor).[9] The Santo Daime religion has managed to reach other countries, it is possible to consider that it is a world religion.[10] Umbanda is a Kardecist Spiritism, Afro-Brazilian and Brazilian Shamanist religion, it emerged after a Kardecist medium Zélio Fernandino de Moraes came to accept the spirits of Natives and Blacks,[11] Umbanda broke with traditional spiritism.[12]
Pentecostalism in Brazil has ritualistic characteristics of Afro-Brazilian religions,[13] it is also very popular among black Brazilians, although Pentecostals deny that there is a syncretism between criticism and Afro-Brazilian religions.[14] One of the most popular Pentecostal churches in Brazil, the IURD (Igrja Universal do Reino de Deus), has an open relationship of syncretisms with Judaism.[15] Brazilian Jewish authorities reject this syncretism.[16]