26.07 - Candomblé

Last night I had the opportunity to go watch a Candomblé ceremony. Candomblé is an African religion where they believe that everyone is protected by an angel. I forgot their word for the angels, but its translation is angel-head – meaning, each head has an angel. There are various kinds of angels (for instance, a beautiful person can have the angel of beauty). They believe you can get possessed by your angel, which translates into a good thing. The religion believes that everyone one of us has free-will, there is no sin, everyone is reincarnated as an ancestor of the same family and it is identified as a happy religion.

When the Portuguese had Africans for slaves here in Brazil, they did not let them practice their religion. But at the same time, as was told to us, they did not want to convert them to Christianity, because they were not sure if the Africans were human or animals. So the Africans resorted to practicing their religion in secret. They would hide in basements, and while the Portuguese had ceremonies, they practiced theirs. Eventually, the Portuguese heard strange noises and got to know that something was going on. When asked, the Africans responded, we saw you perform a ceremony, so we are trying to do the same, we are trying to connect with your God – A big lie! Anyway, the Portuguese let them be.

In the 19th century, with the end of slavery, the Africans were given the freedom to practice their religion freely. However, the Christians were not very happy with this, because Candomblé was gaining in popularity. And so the police stopped them. And again they started practicing in secret. In the 1960s, as America experienced the black revolution, the blacks in Brazil were fighting for the Black Culture. In 1989, finally their religion was recognized as official.

I don’t know how correct the above information is, but this is what I understood from our guide. Wikipedia, will probably have more accurate information.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the ceremony, but it went something like this –

It starts with a procession, where everybody is dressed either in white or in light colors. The women wear really nice long bulging white dresses. Everybody goes around the bungalow, chanting something and a few men carry a carrier with a white bed sheet. Then, everybody enters the bungalow which is a big hall.
They place the carrier in the middle of the floor on top of scattered leaves. The drummers start playing the drums, everyone gathers in a circle and bows down to the carrier. Then, the chief utters some words (he was actually shouting), and he goes and bows down at the carrier. And he gets possessed. He is in a trance and starts dancing. Then one by one, all the others go and bow down at the carrier, and most of them get possessed and into a trance. And so, everyone starts dancing to the drums in a possessed state.

Then they take away the carrier. And the people who are possessed have to go out and change costumes. The men come back with bright colored clothes and the women are still in white. So now, there is just one big space and they dance in it. The drums are playing louder and louder and they dance and then, sometimes they hug each other and it goes on and on. We didn’t see the end because our guide told us it was time to go.

I wish I was a believer. Unfortunately, I was just thinking that this is a show for us, the tourists. But I don’t know.

I liked the music and they really danced well. A few tourists were very disturbed by the whole ceremony.

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Today I walked in Pelourinho and saw this -