Discuss what binds Candomble, Voodoo, and Santeria together as African religions in the New World

Similarities between Candomble, Voodoo, and Santeria

Voodoo (Haiti), Candomblé, Umbanda, Macumba (Brazil), Santeria (Cuba), is some of the many manifestations of spirituality of the black diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America. These are not religions in the strict sense, with verses, moral precepts and dogmas. African roots, they define themselves and live more like cults, particularly ritualized (processions, dances of possession, secret ceremonies, divination, animal sacrifices, magic and fetishism), and borrowing a great mysticism. As illustrated in their pantheons, these cults are characterized by a religious syncretism where Catholic saints to merge Orixhas, African deities of Yoruba origin. According to experts of its Afro-American religions and Afro-Caribbean, syncretism would result from slavery oppression that forced slaves to "hide" their beliefs in the dress of Catholicism in order to ensure their survival. It can also be seen as an appropriation and reinvention, by black slaves, traditional religions, which far from being deleted, this syncretism found in greater vitality. It even seems that Catholicism have favored the emergence and persistence of these beliefs and cults, as they are almost absent from the North American black culture, religion essentially Protestant (Olmos, Fernadez, et al, p. 33-43).

Candomblé is an Afro-Brazilian religion practiced in Brazil but also in neighboring countries such as Uruguay, the Paraguay, the Argentina or the Venezuela. Subtle mix of Catholicism , indigenous rights and African beliefs, the religion is a cult of orixás (pronounced "orisha"), the gods of Candomblé home and family totem, each associated with a natural element ( water, forest, fire, lightning, etc). Based on the belief of the existence of a soul peculiar to nature, Candomblé was introduced to Brazil by African slaves many beliefs from the Slave Trade between 1549 and 1888. First among the African population confined slave, forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church and criminalized by many governments, Candomblé thrived secretly until the abolition of slavery in 1888. Perhaps this is due to syncretism that allowed followers to hide their African gods in the guise of Catholic saints. Under the dictatorship, this religion was also opposed by the government until 1984. This Afro-Brazilian religion is now one of the most popular religions of Brazil whose followers come from all social strata. The women took a major role. It also has more than ten thousand places of worship in which occur the various religious ceremonies and rites. At the last national census, 3 million Brazilians (1.5% of the total population) have declared Candomblé practice (Olmos, Fernadez, et al, p. 33-43). There are well over 2230 homes (terreiros, in Portuguese) in the city of Salvador da Bahia that characterizes the Brazilian religious culture explains the growing participation and mass of a large number of Brazilian Candomblé rites. Indeed, the cultural contributions offered by the Candomblé (rites, dances, music, celebrations) are indisputable: the world of Candomblé has become an integral part of Brazilian culture and folklore. Although some similarities are being noted, it should not ...