Candomblé: Encyclopedia II - Candomblé - Beliefs

Candomblé - Beliefs

Candomblé is a spiritualist religion and worships a number of gods or spirits, derived from African deities:

• the Orishas of Yoruba mythology (Ketu nation), spelled Orixás in Portuguese;
• the Voduns of the Ewe and Fon (Jejé nation); and
• the Inkices (Minkisi) of the Bantu (Angola nation).

These spirits were created by a supreme God: the Olorun (Olorum) of the Yoruba, Zambi or Zambiapongo of the Bantu, and Mawu of the Fon.

Candomblé deities have individual personalities, skills, and ritual preferences, and are connected to specific natural phenomena (a concept somewhat similar to the Kami of Japanese Shintoism). Every person is chosen at birth by one or more "patron" spirits, identifed by a priest. The spirits (except the supreme Olorum) are "incorporated" by priests during Candomblé rites.

Altogether, the various nations of Candomblé retain fifty or so of the hundreds of deities still worshiped in Africa. There are many similarities between some deities of different nations: e.g. Bantu Kabila, Ketu Oxósse and Jejé Otulu are all hunters and have the same symbolic colors. In Candomblé, however, they are considered different deities.

On the other hand, deities from one nation may be cultuated as "guests" in houses and ceremonies of another nation, besides those of the latter. Some nations assign new names to guest spirits, while some retain the names used in the nation of origin.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Beliefs", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki