大咖福利影院

Culture:

After a recent trip to Salvador, a place I consider to be the spiritual center of Brazilian (Afro?) culture, I decided to find a Pai de Santo a do a "jogo de b煤zios" (尘茅谤矛苍诲铆濒贸驳煤苍 or cowrie-shell divination) to determine which are my orix谩s. Many people do not realize that a significant population here in Brazil are followers of candombl茅 or umbanda. The difference between the two (as I understand it) is that candombl茅 is a purer form of Yoruba beliefs of African religious forms (syncretized with Catholic beliefs to avoid persecution during times of slavery) while umbanda incorporates a greater range of "saints" and has Kardecian (spiritist) components.

As an outsider to Brazil these concepts are somewhat foreign. Even to mainstream Brazilians the concepts are difficult to understand - and are often "demonized" by mainstream Christian believers.

Still, it is a beautiful aspect of Brazilian culture which is worth looking into ESPECIALLY because both umbanda and candombl茅 are strongly tied to nature.

Example - my 3 orix谩s (based upon a pai de santo's尘茅谤矛苍诲铆濒贸驳煤苍 - throwing of shells) are:

Frente聽 聽 聽 聽 Ox贸ssi (my main orix谩 is a hunter, of the forest, of to abundance and sustenance)

Adjunto聽 聽 Iemanj谩 (my secondary orix谩 is Iemanj谩, is considered the orix谩 of the seas, protector of fishermen and mother of almost all orix谩s)

Ancestral聽 聽 Oxaluf茫 (my third is the orix谩 of peace and patience)

So this might all be "mumbo jumbo" (meaningless) to you yet it IS a part of Brazilian culture that you might want to pay some attention to for it being very important to a significant part of this society - PLUS it is very beautiful and NOT voodoo nor witchcraft (and I won't get into those details here).

If you want to see an interesting representation of candombl茅, search on Youtube for David Byrne's (yes, Talking Heads) "Ile Aiye," [脦l茅 Aiy茅 (The House of Life) - 1989) which was first presented on PBS' POV in 1989 OR buy it on Amazon for R$760.00.

Direct links:

Youtube:

Amazon:

SO - look around and find a "legitimate" Pai (or m茫e) de Santos and start learning about your orix茫s!!

mberigan