Candomble

Another main religion we were exposed to was Candomble, an African spiritualist religion. Candomble begin when Catholic missionaries attempted to convert African slaves to Christianity. In order to preserve their religion the slaves asked their spirits to enter the statues of Catholicism(ex: Jesus, Mary, etc...) In this way they could preserve their religion while appeasing their masters. Candomble works through the use of a medium. People who have practice in Candomble use their knowledge to invite certain spirits into their bodies. They then act as a medium through which the spirit can communicate. The most common spirit is the Preto Velho (Old Black) who is a wise old man. It is not uncommon for male spirits to enter the bodies of woman and vice versa. The "man" pictured above is actually one participant's host grandmother with a male spirit inside her. The proof of this is her large hat, the huge cigar she smoked, and copious amounts of cashasa(strong brazilian rum) she drank. At one point I saw her with the spirit of a young child in her.