What's Really Behind the Mask: A Reexamination of Syncretism in Brazilian Candomblé
Afro-Catholic syncretism has predominantly been analyzed through the metaphor of a mask in which African slaves ingeniously employed the traditions of Catholic saints to disguise their worship of African deities, ensuring the preservation of their traditions. The study of Brazilian Candomblé—primari...
| Published in: | Journal of Africana religions |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
The Pennsylvania State University Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Journal of Africana religions
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Brazil
/ Yoruba
/ Candomblé
/ Adoration
/ Syncretism
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| IxTheo Classification: | AA Study of religion AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion AX Inter-religious relations BB Indigenous religions KBN Sub-Saharan Africa KBR Latin America KDB Roman Catholic Church NBC Doctrine of God RC Liturgy |
| Further subjects: | B
Candomblé
B Bastide B Brazil B Catholicism B Syncretism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Afro-Catholic syncretism has predominantly been analyzed through the metaphor of a mask in which African slaves ingeniously employed the traditions of Catholic saints to disguise their worship of African deities, ensuring the preservation of their traditions. The study of Brazilian Candomblé—primarily the work of Roger Bastide—has arguably been the most influential in developing this theory. However, this model assumes a Eurocentric framework of discrete, mutually exclusive religions. This article builds on and modifies the mask theory by applying indigenous Yoruba perspectives on cosmology, ontology, interreligious interactions, and masks as traditions that reveal truths more than disguise them. It draws on ethnographic research in Brazil and Nigeria with specialists and practitioners in orisa/orixa traditions and Catholicism. While Westerners may have only seen a mask that camouflaged African deities, Africans themselves created masks that maintained their traditions and revealed their deities, engaging in deep interreligious theology. |
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| ISSN: | 2165-5413 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Africana religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5325/jafrireli.8.1.0146 |