Umbanda

A Brazilian religion weaving African orixás, Catholic saints, and Spiritism together.

from 1908 CE → · Brazil · African & Diaspora

Umbanda emerged in early 20th-century Brazil as a distinctly national religion blending the African orixás of Candomblé, Catholic devotion, Indigenous spirits, and the reincarnation and mediumship of European Spiritism. In its ceremonies mediums are entered by wise spirit guides — old enslaved elders and Indigenous warriors among them — who offer healing and counsel. It teaches charity and the soul’s progress through many lives.

Key figures

• Spirit guides: Pretos Velhos and Caboclos
• The orixás of Afro-Brazilian tradition

Texts

• Oral and mediumistic teaching

Beliefs

• One God served through spirits and orixás
• Communication with wise spirit guides
• Charity and moral progress across lives

Rituals

• Mediumship and spirit possession
• Drumming, song, and offerings
• Sessions of healing and counsel

Grew from

• Candomblé
• Roman Catholicism
• Spiritualism

Connections in the atlas

• Zélio Fernandino de Moraes
• Edifício Joelma (Praça da Bandeira)
• Ecstatic trance and spirit possession (ritual)
• The Middle Passage
• The Bantu-speaking peoples
• Allan Kardec
• The Yoruba and the Atlantic diaspora