Quimbanda is an
Afro-American religionAfro-American religions are a number of related religions that developed in the Americas among African slaves and their descendants in various countries of the Caribbean Islands and Latin America, as well as parts of the southern United States...
practiced in
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
. It is often also called
MacumbaMacumba is a word of African origins. Various explanations of its meaning include "a musical instrument", the name of a Central African deity, and simply "magic". It was the name used for all Bantu religious practices mainly in Bahia Afro-Brazilian in the 19th Century...
and found mostly in urban areas such as
Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
,
Minas GeraisMinas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, the second most populous and fourth largest by area in the federation. The capital is the city of Belo Horizonte, located near the central area...
,
MaranhãoMaranhão is one of the states of Brazil in the north-eastern region. To the north is the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Neighboring states are Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
and
PernambucoPernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about 187 kilometers of beaches, some of the most...
. It is generally viewed as a subset of
UmbandaUmbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African religions with CatholicismUmbanda is related to and has many similitudes with other Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomblé, Batuque, Macumba, Quimbanda, Xambá, Egungun, Ifá, Irmandade, Confraria, Xangô do Nordeste and Tambor de Mina, but...
, but may be more accurately described as representing the survival of
AfricanThe term African people refers to people who live in Africa, or people who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa. This includes members of the "African diaspora" resulting from the Atlantic Slave Trade such as Black British, Afro-Latin Americans, African Americans,...
ethical traditions within the religion, which in other sectors has espoused a heavily
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
moralism not consistent with African views of spiritual agency. In recent years, despite gaining a greater following among some middle class whites, it has begun to assert itself as a separate tradition from Umbanda.
Instead of the wider focus of Umbanda which recognizes entities such as Caboclos, Baianas, Sereias among others, Quimbanda focuses more on entities such as
ExuEshu is an orisha, and one of the most known deities of the Yoruba mythology and related New World traditions....
and
Pomba GiraPomba Gira is the classification of an entity, and an entity herself, who is commonly employed and worked with by practitioners of Umbanda and Quimbanda in Brazil. Pomba Gira is viewed as the consort of Exu, who is the messenger of the Orixas in Candomble...
.
Quimbanda is an
Afro-American religionAfro-American religions are a number of related religions that developed in the Americas among African slaves and their descendants in various countries of the Caribbean Islands and Latin America, as well as parts of the southern United States...
practiced in
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
. It is often also called
MacumbaMacumba is a word of African origins. Various explanations of its meaning include "a musical instrument", the name of a Central African deity, and simply "magic". It was the name used for all Bantu religious practices mainly in Bahia Afro-Brazilian in the 19th Century...
and found mostly in urban areas such as
Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
,
Minas GeraisMinas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, the second most populous and fourth largest by area in the federation. The capital is the city of Belo Horizonte, located near the central area...
,
MaranhãoMaranhão is one of the states of Brazil in the north-eastern region. To the north is the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Neighboring states are Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
and
PernambucoPernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about 187 kilometers of beaches, some of the most...
. It is generally viewed as a subset of
UmbandaUmbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African religions with CatholicismUmbanda is related to and has many similitudes with other Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomblé, Batuque, Macumba, Quimbanda, Xambá, Egungun, Ifá, Irmandade, Confraria, Xangô do Nordeste and Tambor de Mina, but...
, but may be more accurately described as representing the survival of
AfricanThe term African people refers to people who live in Africa, or people who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa. This includes members of the "African diaspora" resulting from the Atlantic Slave Trade such as Black British, Afro-Latin Americans, African Americans,...
ethical traditions within the religion, which in other sectors has espoused a heavily
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
moralism not consistent with African views of spiritual agency. In recent years, despite gaining a greater following among some middle class whites, it has begun to assert itself as a separate tradition from Umbanda.
Instead of the wider focus of Umbanda which recognizes entities such as Caboclos, Baianas, Sereias among others, Quimbanda focuses more on entities such as
ExuEshu is an orisha, and one of the most known deities of the Yoruba mythology and related New World traditions....
and
Pomba GiraPomba Gira is the classification of an entity, and an entity herself, who is commonly employed and worked with by practitioners of Umbanda and Quimbanda in Brazil. Pomba Gira is viewed as the consort of Exu, who is the messenger of the Orixas in Candomble...
. But traditionally Quimbanda also relies heavily upon the Pretos Velhos and the Malandros who do not always fit easy in any one of the preceding groups.
Rituals are concerned with
necromancyNecromancy is a form of magic in which the practitioner seeks to summon "operative spirits" or "spirits of divination", for multiple reasons, from spiritual protection to wisdom...
,
divinationDivination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual. Diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency...
or preparation of amulets, potions or other devices intended to bring supernatural aid, to obtaining resources or to deal with other areas of life. Additionally, the spirit-entities of this cult provide advice to their followers to aid in resolving life's problems. In most respects a gira of Quimbanda will appear pretty much the same as one of Umbanda, with only a likely shift in the color preferences, which—as with most Bantu religious practiced in Brazil and Africa—emphasizes red, black, and (sometimes) white, rather than predominantly white.
Quimbanda, like Umbanda and
CandombléCandomblé is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion, practiced chiefly in Brazil by the "povo de santo" . The religion was largely originated in the city of Salvador, the capital of Bahia. Although Candomblé is practiced primarily within Brazil, it is also practiced in other countries...
, has become recognized as a legitimate religion. However, in recent years, many
PentecostalPentecostalism is a renewal movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit which is evidenced by speaking in tongues. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, a Greek term describing the Jewish Feast of...
and
EvangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the...
Christian churches and congregations have shown increasing intolerance toward African derived religious traditions in Brazil, engaging in harassment and violence. Followers of these traditions are beginning to seek recourse from the law which protects freedom of religion in Brazil.
The name "Quimbanda" derives from the
KimbunduKimbundu is one of the most widely spoken languages in Angola, especially in the north-west of the country, notably in the Malanje Province....
language of
AngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province of Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the...
and means healer or diviner.
The Brazilian
black metalBlack metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It often employs fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, double-kick drumming, and unconventional song structure....
group Ocultan identify themselves as practitioners of Quimbanda.
See also
- Shaman
- Sangoma
A sangoma is a practitioner of herbal medicine, divination and counselling in traditional Nguni societies of Southern Africa .The philosophy is based on a belief in ancestral spirits...
- Bomoh
A bomoh or dukun is a shaman in Malaysia. The bomoh's original role was that of a healer and their expertise was first and foremost an in-depth knowledge of medicinal herbs and Malay geomancy. This was supplemented by Sanskrit mantera owing to the ancient Hindu-Buddhist influence in the region...
- Umbanda
Umbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African religions with CatholicismUmbanda is related to and has many similitudes with other Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomblé, Batuque, Macumba, Quimbanda, Xambá, Egungun, Ifá, Irmandade, Confraria, Xangô do Nordeste and Tambor de Mina, but...
- Candomble
Candomblé is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion, practiced chiefly in Brazil by the "povo de santo" . The religion was largely originated in the city of Salvador, the capital of Bahia. Although Candomblé is practiced primarily within Brazil, it is also practiced in other countries...
- Nganga
Nganga is a Bantu term for herbalist or spiritual healer in many African societies and also in many societies of the African diaspora such as those in Haiti, Brazil and Cuba....
- Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a monotheistic belief system or religion, postulating a belief in God, but the distinguishing feature is belief that spirits of the dead can be contacted, either by individuals or by gifted or trained "mediums", who can provide information about the afterlife.Spiritualism developed...
External links