What do Umbanda believe in?
Umbanda practitioners believe in a supreme creator god; the use of a medium to contact the spirits of deceased people; reincarnation and spiritual evolution through many physical existences; and the practice of charity.
What are the Orixas?
Orixas are ancestors who have been deified. These orixas can be from recent history, perhaps only one hundred years old, or they may be over a thousand years old. Orixas are a link between the spiritual world and the world of humans. Voduns and inkices are spirit gods, essentially the same as orixas.
What is a Terreiro?
Terreiros consists of a series of rooms, some off-limits to non-initiates. They contain an altar to the deities, a space to perform ceremonies, and accommodation for the priests or priestesses. The floor is deemed sacred, consecrated to the tutelary orixá of the house.
What is Brazil’s religions?
Roman Catholic
Religion. Brazil’s religious landscape is as diverse as it’s ethnic and geographic diversity. Accordingly, the majority of Brazilians in the country identify as Roman Catholic (64.4%), thus reflecting it’s historical relationship with Portugal and the Catholic Church.
Who is Oxumare?
Oshunmare (known as Ochumaré or Oxumaré in Latin America) is an Orisha. Osumare is the spirit of the rainbow, and Osumare also means rainbow in the Yoruba language.
Who was Yemaya?
Often depicted as a queenly mermaid, Yemaya is considered the Ocean Mother Goddess in Santería, an Afro-Caribbean religion practiced around the world. With anchored roots in the Yoruba religion, Yemaya was brought over to the New World by enslaved Africans as early as the 16th century.
What is the 7 African powers?
Another common initiation is the intitiation into the Seven African Powers (Elegua, Obatala, Oggun, Chango, Yemaya, Oshun, and Orunmilla). Devotees from Cuba often replace Orunmilla with Babalu-Aye. The Seven African Powers are consecrated into one eleke.