Looking for Indigenous Entities in Afro-Brazilian Religions in Manaus: Activated Relations

• Main Author: Deise Lucy Oliveira Montardo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: James Cook University 2015-08-01
• Series: eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics
• Online Access: https://journals.jcu.edu.au/etropic/article/view/3380

This text is an entrance to the universe of Afro-Brazilian religions, in a search for the references, presence and action of indigenous entities. The focus begins with Umbanda, in whose origin myth indigenous entities have a foundational and central role. This universe expands, however, to other religions, and the interest falls on dialogues that take place in the spiritual plane between beings and their performances in the rituals. The field study that informs this paper was conducted in Manaus because the city has a strong presence of Afro-Brazilian religions and significant contingent indigenous populations - which awakens curiosity about how, and if, this interferes in the manifestation of the indigenous entities in the religious context.