Candomblé is an African religion brought to Brazil during the period in which blacks disembarked to be slaves. During this period, the Catholic Church prohibited the African ritual and still had the support of the government, which judged the act as a criminal, that's why the slaves worshiped their Orixás, Inquices and Voodoo, omitting them in saints Catholics.
The orixás, for Candomblé, are the supreme gods. They have distinct personality and abilities, as well as ritualistic preferences. They also choose the people they use to incorporate in the act of birth, and can share it with another orixá, if necessary.
Candomblé rituals are performed in temples called houses, farms or terreiros that may be of matriarchal lineage (when only women can take the lead), patriarchal (when only men can take the lead) or mixed (when men and women can take the lead of the yard). The celebration of the ritual is carried out by the pai de santo or mother de santo, who initiates the dispatch of the Exu. In a dance rhythm, the drum is played and the sons of saints begin to invoke their orixás to incorporate them. The ritual is at least two hours long.
Candomblé cannot be equated with umbanda. In Candomblé, there is no incorporation of spirits, since the orixás that are incorporated are deities of nature; while in Umbanda, the incorporations are done through embodied or disincarnated spirits in mediums of incorporation. There are people who practice Candomblé and Umbanda, but they do it on different days, times and places.
By Gabriela Cabral