Candomble Research Paper
Candomble
In the 1600’s more than three million African slaves were shipped to Brazil for working on sugar plantations. At the time, cane crops were producing greater wealth for the Europeans than all of Britain’s efforts combined. The growing empire produced a need for workers (McMurray 2009). The African slaves provided cheap labor and resistance to emerging diseases. Salvador Bahia, the most concentrated area of Africans in Brazil, soon became home to religious practices such as one called Candomble. The Candomble belief system quickly became one of many defining characteristics, worship practices, community unification and symbolism.
There are a few characteristics important to the Candomble religion. Candomble is a decentralized, non-ecclesiastical religion. It is also syncretic¸ incorporating both Western and African beliefs. Candomble nurses a broad spectrum of Orixas, or deities, to follow. Throughout Brazil, Candomble differs between neighborhoods; Variance was an excellent way for the followers to hide the religion from the Europeans who controlled them. As of 1980, more than 900 houses of worship in the main cities of Salvador. In the houses, priests of Candomble chant in an African language called Yorba and bound the believers through rituals guided by music from a master …show more content…
The religion is practiced in terreiros, or houses of worship. Because of the abundance of Orixas, each terreiro is unique. Orixas all have a special day of the week, food, symbol, song, etc. and the initiates each develop special relationships with Orixas of their choice. Through the music of a master drummer, believers intermingle with their chosen Orixa by dressing as him in order to invite him in. Generally, the women are considered the mothers of the community and therefore the link to the gods. These worship practices are meant to connect believers to the religion through divine experiences with the gods
In the 1600’s more than three million African slaves were shipped to Brazil for working on sugar plantations. At the time, cane crops were producing greater wealth for the Europeans than all of Britain’s efforts combined. The growing empire produced a need for workers (McMurray 2009). The African slaves provided cheap labor and resistance to emerging diseases. Salvador Bahia, the most concentrated area of Africans in Brazil, soon became home to religious practices such as one called Candomble. The Candomble belief system quickly became one of many defining characteristics, worship practices, community unification and symbolism.
There are a few characteristics important to the Candomble religion. Candomble is a decentralized, non-ecclesiastical religion. It is also syncretic¸ incorporating both Western and African beliefs. Candomble nurses a broad spectrum of Orixas, or deities, to follow. Throughout Brazil, Candomble differs between neighborhoods; Variance was an excellent way for the followers to hide the religion from the Europeans who controlled them. As of 1980, more than 900 houses of worship in the main cities of Salvador. In the houses, priests of Candomble chant in an African language called Yorba and bound the believers through rituals guided by music from a master …show more content…
The religion is practiced in terreiros, or houses of worship. Because of the abundance of Orixas, each terreiro is unique. Orixas all have a special day of the week, food, symbol, song, etc. and the initiates each develop special relationships with Orixas of their choice. Through the music of a master drummer, believers intermingle with their chosen Orixa by dressing as him in order to invite him in. Generally, the women are considered the mothers of the community and therefore the link to the gods. These worship practices are meant to connect believers to the religion through divine experiences with the gods