Abstract

FERREIRA, Júlio Flávio da Silva. The formation of a place of cult in Portugal: an ethnographic viewpoint of Umbanda. Soc. relig. [online]. 2011, vol.21, n.36, pp.37-65. ISSN 1853-7081.

This study focuses on the construction of a 'afro-Brazilian' religious place of cult in Portugal. The ritual performance, in these religions, is developed through cultural expressions of the (re)construction of the world through the difficulties of everyday life. It is possible to affirm that their rituality is based in the role of symbolic inversion of subaltern groups in society (nevertheless attending all classes in Brazil) and/or in contexts of individual suffering in general (what appear to be closer to the Portuguese context). These religions have different formations observable in their rituals in Brazil, including in terms of identity end political assertion of social groups that recognized themselves in 'afro-referenced cultures'. These cults represent, for example, characters of the Brazilian colonial history through its 'spiritual entities'. However, I intend to focus on the manifestations of this process that seems to be the 'new establishment' of the transnationalization of these practices in Portugal, that into the 'new local' tend to reveal new elements. Among them a significance of the formation of 'pais-de-santo' (spiritual leaders) in search of expanding their ritual places of cult. At the same time a "global" discourse emerges respecting the bases of economic and political inequalities. By reviewing the formation of this place of cult - even if its "global" discourse concerns a symbolic dimension - new horizons are open up for the study of afro-Brazilian religions.

Keywords : Umbanda; Religious transnationalization; Symbolic efficacy; Anthropology of religion.

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