Umbanda: A Redefinition of Ancestry


     In this paper I set out to explore the Umbanda religion against the backdrop of Brazil's multicultural society. What I discovered through my research is that Umbanda is not simply a passive reflection of Brazilian culture but may be a creative factor in the formation of a coherent Brazilian national identity. While there are many fascinating aspects to this fairly recent religious tradition, what I found most compelling is how within the ritual drama of Umbanda, the ethnic, class and gender tensions of Brazil might be expressed and resolved in a personal and spiritual arena. This possibility becomes a dynamic component in helping to establish a unified Brazilian psyche/identity out of a complex mix of races, cultures and religions. In order to explore this possibility, a general background on the origins of Umbanda, and an outline of its cosmology and practices is required. With this background established, I will then proceed to focus on the aspects of Umbanda ritual which actively stage the heterogenous nature of Brazilian society as part of a whole.
     Brazil is a very unique country and  full of paradoxes: slums are side by side with skyscrapers; it is extremely racially mixed and yet skin color is still an indicator of class status; industrialization exists alongside vestiges of a feudal mentality;  it is the land of the richest mineral resources and also of the largest foreign debt in the world; home of a warm and spontaneous populace nonetheless capable of remaining unmoved by the sight of a small kid dying of hunger on the streets of its capital; it  is the most catholic country in terms of numbers, and yet somewhat under the table the cradle of the largest  possession cult in the world.
     Umbanda, my religious roots, is not only the most rapidly expanding of the Afro-Brazilian cults that exist in Brazil but also the only one that has spread throughout the entire country, in spite of the enormous cultural differences between regions. Umbanda is a syncretic religion that incorporated Catholicism, Native South American beliefs and Kardecism -- French spiritualism -- into the African possession cults that survived Jesuit extermination.
     The origins of Umbanda go back to the Yoruban religion, brought to Brazil by the African slaves in the 16th century.  This African religion, based on the channeling of deities who represent forces of nature while sharing, like the Greek gods,  human passions,  is the foundation for a variety of possession cults of which Umbanda is a later manifestation.  In order to escape persecution, the Yoruban Gods, called Orixás, "disguised themselves" as the Saints of the oppressor. For instance, Ogum, the warrior god is also Saint George; Yemanjá, mother and Goddess of the Ocean is equivalent to Mary. While some cults were formed out of the desire to preserve the African culture (and thus retained its homogeneity), Umbanda would emerge out of the significant encounter between the Africans that managed to escape slavery, the indigenous culture and an European component.
     In the beginnings of this century, the infiltration of Kardecism, an European spiritist movement which was a mix of possession cult and evolutionary doctrine, along with the Catholic facade, brought Umbanda "to the surface" -- as an underground religious movement (Sales 16-19) . Esther Pressel points to the fact that the mix of Umbanda is not always a balanced one --some terreiros (temples or spiritual centers -- the root of the word refers to "earth")  are more Africanized, others more spiritist -- and that it was the spiritist element, since it presents possession as a calmer phenomenon, which made the religion more palatable to the more educated, and thus higher classes (218). In my opinion, it oriented Umbanda towards the middle class but it never excluded the lower classes who were the foundation through out the process of its formation.
     The cosmologies of all Afro-Brazilian cults share the same Yoruban deities. However, in Umbanda, instead of the descent of the Orixás into the bodies of the "sons and daughters of saints," also called mediums or "horses," it is the spirits of the dead ancestors that come down to give advice and heal the adepts. The Brazilian anthropologist Lísias Negrão provides an insightful description of these spirit types in terms of their function and personality. One of the most famous types of spirits is the Caboclo, who represents the spirit of a dead Indian - He is young and strong, knows the mysteries of the forest and the healing power of plants. He gives advice on mundane issues that call for quick decision. The other major type is the Preto Velho spirit of the old black person, who is wise and calm and gives advice on greater issues. He also knows herbs but since he's been catholicized, he can speak of Jesus and even suggest western medicine. The third type is the "Child", who has no specific ethnicity. He or she just comes down to play and make people happy. The "Child," who isn't of any particular ethnicity, is considered simply Brazilian. Besides these major types, there are also the trickster spirits such as Exus and the Pomba Gyras, the prostitutes. Because they are considered the dangerous ones, most rituals start by "feeding them," meaning: paying them homage, so that they don't turn against the participants. There are other types of spirits that are characteristic of specific regions of Brazil such as the bohemian, smart-ass kind of spirit, known as Zé Pilantra, who is the stereotype of the natives of Rio de Janeiro (205-244). Kardecism brought, along with the doctrine of reincarnation present in many Asian religions, the emphasis on invoking spirits of dead intellectuals, such as those of doctors and professors, who are usually of European background. Given the multi-ethnicity of the cosmology, it isn't a surprise that the adepts and mediums are very racially mixed, and it is important to note that the fusion is magnified when a white man channels an Indian or when a black man channels a white and so on.
     A similar dynamic causing a temporary erasure of class boundaries, probably facilitated the development of Umbanda as parallel to the growth of Brazil as an urban-industrial society. The class communion existent within the ritual ceremony balances out the extreme economic inequality of the society. However, it seems to induce a certain social conformity since the poor are content with their situation as long as it is cyclically overthrown during the ritual sessions. Besides, according to Leilah Landim, Umbanda presents a possibility of social mobility within its context, through the hierarchy of mediumship (104). This, in my opinion, also works in favor of the resolution of class conflicts outside the ritual context though it does not increase social mobility. Nonetheless, though the possibility for social change is diminished here, this temporary pods of class integration are still extremely valid and necessary.
     Besides being a stage for the communion of people defined by who they are rather than by what they have, Umbanda is the only place in Brazilian society that one escapes sexism, since in most terreiros "women are a majority among the mediums" (Pressel 217). While the Orixas have specific genders, the spirits of Umbanda, not only can be of both genders but also can be incorporated by a medium of opposite gender. Some anthropologists, who look at possession through a psychoanalytical perspective, assert that women are a majority simply because they are more repressed (217). Though it is a logical conclusion based on their reductive understanding of an extremely complex phenomenon, my personal experience rejects it. The female mediums I have met, including member of my family, were always very independent and strong -- their initiation was sort of a natural progression of their lives. Thus, the female predominance in mediumship points to a intuitive restoration of balance, that successfully expresses and resolves gender tensions in and outside of the ritual context.
     Although the interchange of identities among people of different ethnicity, social class and gender is definitely the main agent of a coherent Brazilian identity, certain elements of the possession ceremony and the relations between its components are key to furthering our understanding of the social meaning of Umbanda. Even though the ceremonies vary a lot from terreiro to terreiro, the basic components of the ritual itself can be seen as the micro-dynamics of a societal urge for communion.  Group participation is a key element. All the individuals need to be concentrated to form a strong energy bond so that the horse -- the channeler -- can receive the spirit. The channeling is preceded by specific songs, drums or hand clapping, depending on the orientation -- more or less African. Once the spirit descends, the ritual assumes a more individualistic phase which consists of waiting to receive advice and be cleansed by the spirit that comes through the medium. In smaller terreiros, like the one I grew up around, after the individual advice and healing, the spirit gives general advice to the group as a whole and then the group concentration and faith is once again required so that the medium can come back safely. 
     The relation between medium and spirit is well illustrated by Victor Turner's research on what he called "the dialectics of Umbanda": Whether conscious or unconscious, "Possession is at once a collective and an individual phenomenon, Velho writes, for the entities received belong to a mythological system, yet each medium gives the entity s/he personifies an idiosyncratic elaboration. Each medium has a preto Velho, but the medium Mario has his own Preto-Velho, 'Pai Benedito' " (qtd. in Turner 54). This clear analogy to the integrative function of theater is also reflected in the relationship between an adept and the entities. It seems as if the spiritual hierarchy, though existent is minimized by the possibility of audience participation. Anyone is capable -- most of the times involuntarily -- to receive an entity.  Besides, the feeling of communion is enhanced by the fact that the entities seem to live in a very similar material setting. I remember being struck at the age of eight by the humanness of these higher beings when my Preta Velha (channeled by my grandmother) said in a joking manner:  "Oh, I better go, 'cause Preto Velho is just sitting there on his tiny stool, smoking his pipe, staring at the fire waiting to come down."
     The syncretism that characterizes Umbanda is not a closed system, it is a process that is in constant mutation and adaptation to particular regional needs.  "Umbanda doesn't search for legitimation in the keeping of tradition, but rather on the efficacy of its works" (Landim 101).  Although all terreiros share a similar cosmology each center is very independent from one another, very autonomous, unlike organized religion. There is no rigorous codification of the ritual sequence nor of the belief systems (Pressel 134).  In fact, the creativity in developing a particular ritual language is a form of acceptance.  Thus, Umbanda occupies the realm of art and theater, funneling the creativity of its members through a constant reassessment of the meaning of the ritual, which is to say, the meaning of their lives.
     It is important to point out that, according to Turner, in spite of the integrative function of the autonomous and heterogeneous terreiros, they are neither free of internal conflicts nor of conflicts among themselves. They are a microcosmos of the society at large, but here the conflicts are mostly among entities, so they are supported by the mythological stories that are the backbone of the rites. Even the power struggle among the administrative representatives of the terreiros should be seen as an opportunity to "develop collective identity" (47). Thus, the power struggles within a particular terreiro and among terreiros for the influence over an area is a vital part of the dynamics though which Umbanda expresses and resolves social tensions.
     What fascinates me the most about Umbanda is the elimination of racial boundaries.  What is especially intriguing is the very fact that there's no talk about multi-ethnicity within its circles. It seems that the process happened so naturally that nobody questions it -- I hadn't questioned it until after nearly twenty years of practice. Umbanda doesn't preach for racial mixture; Umbanda is ethnic fusion. Here, the dead spirits aren't only black slaves; they're Indians, cowboys, prostitutes, bohemians, professors, doctors, tricksters, and children. While some scholars, such as Bastide, find that Umbanda is a degeneration of the African heritage because it signifies a second subjugation to white values through its adoption of white and amerindian spiritism (qtd. in Landim 102), I think that the mediation by the spirit of the dead ancestors, while it distances itself from its origins, is actually a form of reaffirming the essence of the Yoruban religion: the very possession element. If possession is about being a vessel for that which is around us though we can't see it -- or most of the time refuse to see it -- how could the channelers, the mediums of this sacred art not be possessed by the racial tensions in its environment? According to Sheila Walker possession is the very opposite of religious passivity, for in the act of establishing communication with the gods (which, in this case is mediated by the spirits) humans are "taking positive constructive action in creating an order of which men are in control rather than helpless" (103). So, the great lesson of Umbanda lies in its deliberate interpretation of what "ancestry" means, since its realm embraces as ancestors people who live in the same land in spite of their ethnic roots.  Therefore, this redefinition of genealogy enables the ritual to function as an agent of integration of national identity.  Furthermore, perhaps what the existence of Umbanda is trying to tell us is that the survival of an ancient ritual in the context of a modern society has more to do with learning how to grow through a process of inclusion than with maintaining the purity of its roots through a process of exclusion.  --  Carla Melo


Works Cited

Landim, Leilah.  Sinais dos Tempos: Tradições Religiosas no Brasil.  Rio de Janeiro: Instituto de Estudos da Religião, 1989.
Negrão, Lísias Nogueira .  Entre a Cruz e a Encruzilhada.  São Paulo: Edusp, 1996.
Pressel, Esther.  Umbanda Trance and Possession in São Paulo, Brazil. Trance , Healing, and Hallucination.  Ed.  Irving I. Zaretsky.  New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1974.  134, 217-218.
Sales, Nivio Ramos.  Rituais Negros e Caboclos.  Rio de Janeiro: Pallas, 1984.
Turner, Victor.  The Anthropology of Performance.  New York: Paj Publications, 1988.
Walker, Sheila.  Ceremonial Spirit Possession in Africa and Afro-America.  Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1972.

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