Vodun/santeria/candomble/yoruba

I know about the different orixas like Xango, Oxum, Iemanja, Iansa, Obatala, Obalouie, Oxossi, etc. I also know the terms for the priests and priestesses. Plus I know the basics like some of the orixa's colors, what they control i.e. health, lesbians, fertility, etc.

But what is their creed?

 

Has anyone ever heard of this cult?

 

interesting topic,the Samantha...I can tell you i've been travelling few times into West Africa and the Sub Sahara belt... :bandana:
in 1974 i made a trip trough Mauretania,Senegal,Mali,Burkina Fasso(Upper Volta)Ivory Coast,NIger,Algeria,Tunisia
i was away for 5 months..in 1986 i went to Senegal/Gambia because a won a free trip on television in a quiz program..
concerning African vodun..it's mysterious and often not for white eyes..the rituals in Benin,Dahomey,Togo
The Sabar dances of Dakar and the banlieu's...often sexual provoking by the ladies(oh)it's the djembé rhytms which stimulate the trance
look at this you tube about the N'deup ceremonies in the village of Yoff..the Lébou are fisherman folks with strong vodun traditions...
i believe that a lot of these cermonies are either intitiations,depraved women who are supposed to be possesed by a djinn or an evil spirit?
a lot of the woman or older folks are bénisseurs==healers...I was not able to witness a N'deup..
but i would go back to witness it and make an effort to say my stuff on here...maybe..i'll go again..i LOVE West Africa,the people,traditions..
I'll be back one day...the cults you say in your opening thread are all coming out of West African slave traditions living in Haiti,Brazil,Cuba etc...
the real stuff is to be found in dark Africa itself... in my opionion a Westerner will never grasp the deeper meaning of it..
i wanna go deeper into this topic..i am surprised i am the first one here to reply...
cheers to you,Samantha..and by the way..one day i'll be in Brazil as well..it's on my list... Tiger
candomblé,macumba,umbanda,orixa,voodoo..it's West African roots,my dear...
and orisha's are a manifestation of the spirit world of the Yoruba tribal mythology like in Nigeria,Togo,Benin..

1/the N'deup ceremony at Yoff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVTtZJBOoqU

2/An N'deup trance...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX8-VKBZ6Zs

3/Vodun ceremony in Benin...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ovbd_dceWo

4/about Voodoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFzbDDnaZWo

 

and by the way...the music who introduces and brings all these folks into a state of trance is the djembé...
i've been to djembé sessions in Belgium..and i can tell you...I can move my ass to that beat as well...
when i was in Senegal in the 70's..I recall the balafon,the kora,the griots,the gri gri markets like Sandaga in Dakar.
one of my favorite djembé artists is Mamadou Keita from Guinée Conakry...
aww...I LOVE this kind of music...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhhXNJKugZo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkvQoG3wDPQ





Tiger

 

The Sabar is a drum of Senegambia which they usually play with 1 hand and a stick..djembé is played with the hands...
the Sabar dances can become rather wild...and some of the sessions can end up a bit with sexual gestures..
the women who dance perform before an audience and almost do a competition with others..the rhytms can become fierce and wild..
I know Senegal a bit because i travelled there...i think they are nice,friendly outgoing folks..
and by the way they know how to get some sounds out of their Sabar or djembé drums...
the twerking of the bum is called Mapouka and originated in Ivory Coast,it was banned in 1998 there..
in Togo as well because the authorities thought it was indecent behaviour...(hihi)
another twerk dance comes from Tanzania and is called Baikoko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBsKR6ea9LU

 

about candomblé,obeah rituals and beliefs...could be very interesting to witness a candomblé ritual if i go to Brazil... :bandana:
i got friends here who have done ayahuasca,kambo etc..one of them had a death experience...
but afterwards he told me his life has become more oriented towards his inner self..could be...but it's not my cup of tea really..

candomblé would arise my curiosity..i would go for it..i believe that Africa got true values about mysticism,power of the mind etc..

**Candomblé is a religion based on African beliefs which is particularly popular in Brazil. It is also practised in other countries, and has as many as two million followers**

• The religion is a mixture of traditional Yoruba, Fon and Bantu beliefs which originated from different regions in Africa. It has also incorporated some aspects of the Catholic faith over time.
• A religion which combines elements of many religions is called a syncretic religion.
• Enslaved Africans brought their beliefs with them when they were shipped to Brazil during the slave trade.
• The name Candomblé means 'dance in honour of the gods'.
• Practitioners of Candomblé believe in one all powerful God called Oludumaré who is served by lesser deities. These deities are called orixas. (They can also be called voduns and inkices.)
• Candomblé practitioners believe that every person has their own individual orixa which controls his or her destiny and acts as a protector.
• Music and dance are important parts of Candomblé ceremonies. Specially choreographed dances are performed by worshippers to enable them to become possessed by the orixas.
• There is no concept of good or bad in Candomblé. Each person is only required to fulfil his or her destiny to the fullest, regardless of what that is.
• Candomblé is an oral tradition and therefore has no holy scriptures.
• The first official temple was founded at the beginning of the 19th century in Salvador, Bahia in Brazil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StiySeq-EVM&feature=youtu.be

 

Thank you so much Old Tiger for this wealth of information! I learned a lot.

The Christian belief system is encompassed in the words of The Nicene Creed and their life purpose is The Westminster Catechicism. The central tenet of Buddhism is The Four Noble Truths. Wiccas have The Wiccan Rede.

What is the creed of these religions? Obey the ancestors and orixas, for they hold the key your destiny?

 

ah..yeah..the so called Macumba,Umbanda,Candomblé,Santeria etc...are in my opinin just remnants of African tribal religions like the Yoruba and their mythology...it all started with slavery and Africans folks practising a religion mixed with Catholicism..
they blended it and it became the present candomblé...when i did research on Ivory Coast and Senegal for participating on television quiz in the 80's..
i stumbled upon African beliefs...the mystery of it all intrigued me and i became curious..let's say interested..
Candomble is more popular then Umbanda...and Macumba is more common in Rio or Sao Paulo...
for me the real heart of these beliefs are to be found in the sertao region of Brazil==Salvador de Bahia...
the creed?it's more mixing Catholic Saints with Yoruba mysticism and beliefs..
Yemoja,ogun,obatale and all these difficult names...what does it mean?
Olumudare is supposed to be the creator and that creator is linked to Orixas...
all that shit that candomblé or santeria is an evil thing..is plain bullshit..
there is the sacred drumming,animal sacrifices,honouring the ancestors,libation,animism,deities..
I do not fully understand it,because i did not witnessed it...i wish i can in the future..
all these beliefs are not written down like Christianity in a Holy Bible..it's an oral tradition...
seems complicated perhaps..but a true believer of candomblé finds his or her way into inner peace...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=BE&v=dr3zQRXzuvY

 

Great info! You'd be surprised that unfortunately, a significant portion of Brazilians believe candomble is evil. Haha! Silly superstition. I don't think there's anything evil going on. There are rumors of murders ha! Just a misunderstood minority. Many have to conceal their beliefs at work or lose their jobs. In Brazil! What a pity. I had seen that documentary before that you just linked. It was awesome to get to see it again. I guess they don't have a clear cut creed. But hey, if it helps the poor deal with mental illnesses, they deserve respect.

 

I will go deeper into the subject of Candomblé and Umbanda.. :bandana: this posting is about candomblé and healing...
listen to this very wise explanation of this old dude..my respect to professor Stanley Krippner...
he knows what he is talking about..I love it...

another note i wanna say...in West Africa in the villages in the backcountry far away from the major cities...
if someone gets ill..be it physical or mental...there are no allopatic doctors around..
they go the village medicine man...and in a lot of cases...people get healed...just believe me..
i have witnessed rural village life once in a place called Mahina==inbetween Kayes-Bamako(Mali)
I was introduced to the village chief..an old dude with 4 wives...i was travelling with 2 French dudes that time...
we found this experience different then anything else..nobody of us can tell what happens in villages in dark Africa..
and believe me...I wanna know more..but..a white man does not travel into dark Africa...why not??
because we're addicted to confort,luxury,and there is the fear of the unknown...
You will not find luxury in a village like Mahina...but you will find the warmth of African people...If you're open to them and their beliefs..
we were offered to sleep in an Africun hut...with the earth as a floor..it was in my opinion..a luxury place in the middle of nowhere...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrydSkQril0&feature=youtu.be

 

So Iemanja, the orixa of the sea, the vain one who likes white flowers and perfume, the goddess of fertility...she was a minor deity among the Yoruba. But she helped the slaves get across the sea, so they pay homage to her (why didn't these orixas stop slavery? perhaps they're not omnipotent). In Brazil on New Year's Eve, you can throw a white flower in the sea for Iemanja. I hope to do that one day.

Also Iemanja is overlapped with the Virgin Mary.

 

sure..San Salvador de Bahia is the heart of black BraziI and i wouldn't say NO to be present at this festival...
i am a dude who can go nuts on music and djembé drum sounds...will i go into a trance?(ohoh)
it's on my gypsie travel list in the near future...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj8lP-yg04U

 

I love Olodum. "Latinamente um povo negro a cantar, bate em minha mente um povo em comum pensar." Translation: Latinwise a negro people singing, beats in my mind a people in community thinking.

That is just divine.

Deus abencoe o seu Brasil! God bless your Brazil.

 

@Skip... in 1986 i participated in a quiz called Van Pool tot Evenaar(from Pole to Equator)on BRT 1 televison..
the subject was Senegal..anything about that country really...not easy...I had to play against a bank director from Waver(B)
we both did not so well...he won the show with 18.000Belgian Francs..I got 16.000 Belgian fr...
the interesting thing was==at the end of this show a dude from the Senegal embassy came in focus..
he had 2 enveloppes in his hand...Ohoh...both of us a free trip by plane to Dakar+10 days half pension in a luxury hotel...
i couldn't believe my eyes.so..I went with my wife and took full advance of this offer...


2 years later in the same quiz==subject Ivory Coast...this time we used a computer to answer a question to see who could start first..
he always won,because he worked in a bank...the one who won could choose==easy or difficult question...
i always got the difficult question...score was 2 to 1 round for this dude..
last question on the computer this dude typed the wrong answer...i took the difficult question...and we ended 2-2=equal
meant that both of us won 44.000B.francs...taxfree...wooh..

then...in 1999 I went for a quiz==question of 1 million Belgian Francs on VTM televison
in this quiz the candidate played against his own knowledge of a chosen subject...
i underwent a difficult pre selection..but i got the show...
you won't believe it... but i chose the subject Bangkok city(Thailand)only Bangkok..
5 rounds...in the 4th round something went wrong for me..i mixed up a talisman market with another one...
and did not know the answer to the spare question about a bridge over the Chao Phraya river..
result==i was out..but..i won 250.000 Belgian francs which would be quite a lot of dollars...
does this answer your question,Skip?


P.S..Now back on topic...voodoo,candomblé etc..i love it..

 

a link on Exu...a very important orixa in every terreiro..

https://eyesonbrazil.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/who-is-exu-of-candomble/

 

Exu is Eshu Elegbara in Cuba and Papa Legba in Haiti. In Black America, he is a pimp like Supafly. Exu is a young black man. He is the gatekeeper between this world and the land of the Egungun, the land of the dead, which exists parallel to this world. He wears a top hat and carries a cane. He sometimes appears disguised as a wanton prostitute. He makes crude sexual jokes. For example, he appeared in Haiti to Mambo Racine and she was wearing small glasses. He told her to take the clits off her eyes.

 

the term voodoo is in my eyes much misunderstood..of course it looks all scary,fearful,mysterious etc..
but if one goes to black Africa these things are considered normal..it happens in daily life..
Haiti for example has a bad reputation of misunderstood Voodoo..Is it really that bad?
what is Voodo,is it a cult?is it black magic?is it evil?ist a religion???or is it a mixture of these terms?
is it as bad as people think it is?in my opinion it's like candomblé,santeria ,macumba...
just a means of black African diaspora to express their feelings in the Yoruba or Fon tribal culture...
in my local supermarket carrefour there is a lady from Brazil working as a till lady.I asked her today..what do you think about candomblé?
She said it's no good,she's bloody scared of it?why is that?because she got brainwashed into Catholicism,dogma's,beliefs,superstitions,traditions?
i am bit of a travel adventurer...I would not be scared to go into Voodo sessions and ceremonies as long i find it does not harm me...
in Borneo i visited a Dayak village==headhunters before..in fact their culture is gone..it is dissapearing..youngsters go to the big cities etc..
and the old values and traditions have gone down the drain...in black Africa..it did not..it's still a religion..
Benin recognises Vodun as a state religion..that's my 2 cents of this story...now read this link..It gives a good idea what Voodoo is all about..


Voodoo probably isn’t what you think it is. It might be easier to start with what Voodoo isn’t:..Voodoo isn’t accurately portrayed in most movies, TV shows and books. Even some documentaries and non-fiction books are misleading. Voodoo isn’t a cult, black magic or devil worship. People who practice Voodoo are not witchdoctors, sorcerers or occultists. Voodoo isn’t a practice intended to hurt or control others. Most Voodooists have never seen a “Voodoo doll” (unless, like you, they saw it in a movie).


Voodoo isn’t morbid or violent. Voodoo isn’t the same everywhere. Not everyone who practices Voodoo does it in exactly the same way or agrees on exactly the same things. (This document only represents my understanding of Voodoo. I can’t speak for everyone!)


So, what is Voodoo?


Voodoo is a religion that originates in Africa. In the Americas and the Caribbean, it is thought to be a combination of various African, Catholic and Native American traditions. It is practiced around the world but there is no accurate count of how many people are Voodooists.


Voodoo has no scripture or world authority. It is community-centered and supports individual experience, empowerment and responsibility.


Voodoo is different in different parts of the world, and varies from community to community. This is mostly about Voodoo in New Orleans and Haiti.


Voodoo embraces and encompasses the entirety of human experience. It is practiced by people who are imperfect and may use religion for their own purposes.


What do Voodooists believe?


To understand what they believe, you have to first understand how a Voodooist sees the world. Those who practice Voodoo believe that there is a visible and an invisible world, and that these worlds are intertwined. Death is a transition to the invisible world, so our predecessors are still with us in spirit. They watch over and inspire us.


In addition to our ancestors and loved ones we knew in life, there are the Lwa, which can also be understood as archetypes of human personalities (such as Ogunthe warrior) and others that embody more specific concerns or localities (such as Marie Laveau in New Orleans). Each Lwa is actually a family of similar types (i.e. there is more than one Ogun; more than one way to be a warrior). Voodooists develop relationships with the Lwa to seek their counsel and help with concerns in the visible world. In some ways this is not dissimilar to the secular practice of studying and honoring remarkable historic figures. For example, someone who wishes to effect social change might find inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi and feel a kinship with them. They may read their books, keep a poster of them on the wall, place significance on their day of birth or death and try to live by their example. In a similar fashion, a Voodooist develops a relationship with particular Lwa, seeks to understand and embody the principles they represent, connects spiritually in order to affect personal transformation and manifest this energy in the visible world to help the living.


Like Catholic saints or Hindu deity figures, the Lwa are familiar and accessible whereas the “great good God,” although loving, is distant, and somewhat above individual human concerns.


Voodoo has ordained clergy, Hougan (priests) and Manbo (priestesses) that make a commitment to a spiritual path and can offer guidance when needed, but it is believed that each person is responsible for their own actions and capable of self-actualization. Voodooists especially places value on the strength of community for support and enrichment.


Just as there are differences within other faiths, there is great variation within Voodoo beliefs and practices. In places and times where conditions are very desperate, Voodoo is often focused on survival. In my New Orleans community, many Voodooists feel that part of religion is service to their community, so there is an emphasis on healing and social activism. We also have many artists and musicians in our community, further reflecting New Orleans’ unique cultural spirit.


If Voodoo is just another religion, why does everyone think it’s scary?


Racism clouds our view of Voodoo. It is rooted in slavery and intricately connected to this hemisphere’s political and social evolution. Voodoo was first practiced in America and the Caribbean by slaves of African descent, whose culture was both feared and ridiculed. Slaves were not considered fully human. Their religion was dismissed as superstition, their priests were denigrated as witchdoctors, their Gods and Spirits were denounced as evil.


One of the only successful slave revolutions in modern history occurred in Haiti in the late 1700s. Slaves of African descent overthrew European rulers and took control of the country. Many slaves were Voodooists, and some of their military leaders were priests who inspired and organized their communities to fight for freedom. The Haitian Revolution provoked fear in other European and American colonies that were reliant on vast numbers of slaves as plantation labor. The imagery and vocabulary of Voodoo (and other Afro-Caribbean religions) became threatening and ingrained in those cultures as something horrifying, associated with bloodshed and violence. It was brutally repressed in most places. It became taboo.


Over time, American culture became fascinated by this mysterious tradition and began to depict it in movies and books as sensationalized horror. “Voodoo” practices were dreamed up by Hollywood; most of the disturbing images fixed in our minds are something we saw in a movie. Hollywood created a mythology that we have taken as truth. “Voodoo” has become part of modern folklore as something evil that can hurt us.


But Voodoo is widely practiced in Haiti, and it is still relevant in politics there. Politics and religion make a controversial mix. In that regard, Voodoo is the same as any belief system. In the U.S., many Voodooists are afraid of how they will be treated so they hide their religion. While this is understandable, it also reinforces suspicion that they practice in secret to conceal something bad or violent. Fear begets fear.


We aren’t always aware of the origins of our beliefs; now and then we need to reassess what we know and how we know it. There were times in our nation’s history that other groups (e.g. Jews, Catholics) were similarly reviled. It’s only through education and getting to know those with different beliefs that we can overcome our fear and realize that they are ordinary people who enrich our communities.

 

Thanks a million for the link. It was very interesting and I learned a lot. I agree that the legacy of slavery is what causes people to fear and misunderstand Voodoo or Vodun and the different versions of it in the African Diaspora.

If I were to be in a religion, I would want to practice Voodoo. It's very stimulating.

I was already introduced to it in person a few years back.

I was hanging out with my Brazilian friends. One of them is a male Candomble priest or babalorixa. We were hanging out in the living room when suddenly, I heard a blood curdling cackling sound. I looked over and the priest was going into convulsions. I was shocked. One of my friends told me to take off my shoes as a sign of respect. She then fetched a red shawl with gold trim, a cigar, and a bottle of Cachaca. The priests eyes rolled to the back of his head. He started smoking and drinking and talking in a sweet voice, speaking Portuguese. The female friend told me to approach the priest. I was told that he had been possessed by Maria Padilha. I went up and said "Oi Dona Maria" and hugged her, through the priest. The priests entire body was vibrating. Then he did a reading. I won't go into what I was told, as it's private, but it was accurate. Dona Maria snapped her fingers around my body repeatedly, apparently to cleanse me. I hugged her again and thanked her.

Next the priest bounced around on the floor and giggled like a baby. The female friend said he was now possessed by, if my memory serves me right, Obatala, the baby orixa, the god of health. The female friend got popcorn, which Obatala likes. He picked up the bowl of popcorn and with glee, flung all the popcorn into the air, which has spiritual significance. Finally the priest was possessed by a chicken, and then he came to.

I would ultimately not practice Voodoo, because, according to another Brazilian acquaintance, an Afro-Brazilian girl, it's expensive, what with all the items you have to purchase, and you lose your freedom. You're literally the son or daughter of the Lucumi. I found this to be true of the priest. He HAD to be home every Saturday at 11 pm to do readings. Dona Maria told him that wherever he is at that time, he WILL be possessed. He told me one time, he was at a party. He heard Dona Maria telling him to leave the party, NOW. He said found out later that two minutes after he had left, a madman had burst into the party and sprayed the place dead.

When I go to Brazil, I hope to find Dona Maria and make an offering of cigarettes and red and yellow roses. She's with me in spirit, and I'll never forget her.

 

Would anyone here be able to tell me about the religion of the Dominican Republic?

I'm interested in the folk religion.