Macumba
Macumba (also Makumba ) is an Afro-Brazilian religion that has broken away from its African roots and is less clearly defined than Candomblé . The term Macumba goes back to a tree in Madagascar and Mozambique under which the ethnic religious gatherings took place.
Macumba often only means the multitude of religious folk traditions of African origin that are alive in Brazil , which are not only limited to the population of black African origin, but have also penetrated far into the “white” sections of the population. Macumba often exists alongside or in a syncretistically mixed way with the popular Catholic faith of large parts of Brazilian society, even if layers more oriented towards Europe and North America often deny this.
In Macumba, belief in witches and fetishes play a major role. Not only white, but also black magic belong to Macumba. In the Macumba cult , the so-called "sons or daughters of the saints", under the guidance of a priest or a priestess, make contact with ancestors and other spirits in a trance and convey their advice to the believers in a "holy voice".
Macumba is a very negative expression. If someone claims to practice Macumba, then it is important for a Christian Brazilian to avoid this person. There are similar mysterious ideas about Macumba as about voodoo . Both come from the African religions and are practiced in a slightly different form and under a different name in Cuba ( Santería ).
However, Macumba is a further development of the former Bantu religions from Angola and Congo. These regions were strongly influenced by Christianity from an early age . Therefore, prayers and songs in Macumba are written in Portuguese instead of an African language. There is also a supreme being, as in Christianity. This is called Zumbi .
A special connection with the dead is maintained in the Macumba. Hence, it is a death-centered religion, which sets it apart from other Afro-Brazilian cults.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Bernhard Pollmann: Traditional Religions in South America. In: Harenberg Lexicon of Religions. Harenberg, Dortmund 2002, ISBN 3-611-01060-X . P. 910.