Afro-Brazilian religion ritual before Carnival

RIO DE JANEIRO — Laura D’Oya, a priestess of an Afro-Brazilian faith, was on the heart of the ceremony. Crouched down, she held a cigar in certainly one of her arms and a prime hat within the different. The temple in Rio de Janeiro was illuminated by purple lights and dozens of practitioners sang and danced to the rhythm of an atabaque, a conventional hand drum.

The devoted of Umbanda, a faith that was born in Brazil, at all times carry out rituals of non secular safety as a part of the pre-Carnival traditions. A non secular mentor walked previous Laura in her Casa de Caridade Santa Barbara Iansa temple and prayed to activate a protecting area to defend her from unhealthy energies.

“Many individuals make the most of this era to do good actions, however others do unhealthy issues. It (the ceremony) is for defense towards occasions that may be extra widespread (throughout carnival),” Laura mentioned earlier than the ritual.

As Portuguese colonists introduced African slaves to Brazil, the enslaved women and men developed blends of their religions with Catholicism, which right now embrace Candomble and Umbanda. They’re practiced by a tiny minority — some 600,000 of the greater than 200 million Brazilians, in accordance with the 2010 census — and Rio de Janeiro state is residence to one-quarter of them. Afro-Brazilian religions have confronted elevated intolerance over latest years, with a few of their temples destroyed.

Regardless of the very fact Rio suspended road events and the Carnival parade on account of COVID-19, Laura’s temple held the ceremony as a result of they think about the interval as certainly one of disturbed power. There may be larger publicity of the human physique and its sensuality, rising the danger of accidents and different adverse issues, she defined.

Some safety rituals are even often carried out on the Carnival parade grounds, referred to as the Sambadrome, which this 12 months has been repurposed as a coronavirus vaccine station. Aged Black girls wearing all white referred to as Bahianas normally wash the avenue earlier than the parades to summon good energies for the general public and the samba colleges that stage the spectacle. Final 12 months, one samba faculty’s parade centered on making a plea for individuals to respect Afro-Brazilian religions.

The ceremony at Laura’s temple is for each non secular and bodily safety, she mentioned. On the finish of the ritual, all of the practitioners depart the temple protected, as soon as once more, towards the unhealthy energies of the Carnival.