71-27,542 PRESSEL, Esther Joan, 1937- UMBANDA IK SXo PAULO: RELIGIOUS INNOVATION IN A DEVELOPING SOCIETY. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1971 Anthropology Uni varsity Microfilms,)&PK A Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION NAS SEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED UMBANDA IN SAO PAULO: RELIGIOUS INNOVATION IN A DEVELOPING SOCIETY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Esther Joan Prescel, B.S., K.A. # jft jfc # & % The Ohio State' University 1971 Approved by Adviser\ \ Department of Anthropology ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, and foremost, I wish to thank Professor Erika Bourguignon who is a master teacher in academic studies and research. Her comments and suggestions in letters to me in the field as well as during the lengthy period it took me to write this dissertation were quite helpful. I also wish to express my appreciation to Professor Thomas R. Williams, Professor H. S. Morris and Professor Gene Poirier for reading an earlier draft of this dissertation. Their suggested revisions were useful. Research in cultural anthropology cannot, be accom­ plished without the friendship of the individuals one studies. Due to the intimate nature of some of the infor­ mation these people provided, I shall not mention their specific names. But, their particular personalities are a major part of the data in this dissertation. Without their generous cooperation, this study would not have been possible. I especially wish to thank Therezinha Guimarffes Mathias who was my friend^ major field assistant and typist in SSo Paulo. Without her gifted insight into the nature of Brazilian society and national character, many observations might have slipped by me. ii Two other personal notes of thanks are Inevitable: one to my parents who usually suggested that I do whatever I felt was best for me; the other to Urso Preto, who is my Kiowa-Apache "guardian spirit." He finally decided to reveal himself to me in Brazil where he thought I might be more inclined to accept spirits. My personal experiences with Urso Preto gave me a personal insight into the psycho­ logical processes related to spirit possession. Finally, I wish to thank Mrs. Fran Roberts for her admirable patience and help in typing this dissertation. iii VITA January 15, 1937. * Born - Loysburg, Pennsylvania 1959................. B.S., The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 1959-1963 .......... Assistant Editor, Chemical Abstracts Services, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1964................. M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1964-1966 .......... Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1966-1967 .......... Research Assistant, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1967-1963 .......... Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, The Chio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1968-1971 .......... Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado PUBLICATIONS 1966 A preliminary survey of trance and spirit possession among Afrobrazilians. Cross-Cultural Study of Dissociational States, Working Paper # 7. 1968 Structure, beliefs and ritual behavior in Umbanda: A preliminary report of field research in SSo Paulo, Brazil. Cross-Cultural Study of Dissociational States, Working Paper # 19. The Ohio State University, Depart­ ment of Anthropology. iv 1968 Dissociational states In Umbanda: A function of cognitive dissonance. Cross-Cultural Study of Dissociational States, Working Paper # 23. The Ohio State University, Department of Anthropology. 1968 Some aspects of spiritual psychotherapy in Umbanda. Cross-Cultural Study of Dissociational States, Working Paper # 2 8 . The Ohio State University, Department of Anthropology. 1971 Umbanda in SSo Paulo: religious innovation in a developing society. In Religion, Altered States of Consciousness and SocTal Change. Erika Bourguignon, ed. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University Press (forthcoming). FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field : Cultural Anthropology Studies in Psychological Anthropology. Professors Erika Bourguignon and Thomas R. V/illiams Studies in Linguistics. Professor Erika Bourguignon Afro-American Studies. Professor Erika Bourguignon v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................... ii VITA...................... ......................... iv INTRODUCTION.................. 1 Chapter I. TRANCE AND SPIRIT POSSESSION: BACKGROUND. 4 II. SELECTION OF A RESEARCH SITE AND METHODOLOGY............................ 27 III. THE SOCIO-CULTURAL SETTING OF UMBANDA. 34 IV. UMBANDA CENTERS: BELIEFS AND RITUALS. 59 V. A- CULT LEADER........................... 39 VI. THE CLIQUE: CECILIA THE LEADER....... 103 VII. THE CLIQUE: TWO CHILDREN OF MAMAE OXUM. 132 VIII. THE CLIQUE: TWO YOUNG M E N ........... 153 IX. ANALYSES OF TRANCE AND SPIRIT POSSESSION IN U M B A N D A ............................ 163 X. CONCLUSIONS............................. 202 APPENDIX............................................ 207 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................ 21? vi INTRODUCTION The work reported in this dissertation-1- was begun during the summer of 1966. At that time I prepared a pre­ liminary survey of trance and spirit possession in Brazil. This was followed by a one year field study of trance and spirit possession in Umbanda, which is a rapidly expanding spiritualist religion in Brazil. I did the major part of this research in the metropolis of SSo Paulo between December, 1966 and November, 1967. The major problem I am concerned with in this disser­ tation is the demonstration of Umbanda as a religious inno­ vation in the developing society of Brazil. Specifically, I attempt to argue that Umbanda is a religious institution which developed primarily in urban areas to mediate macro­ changes in the economic, social and political spheres of the larger Brazilian society and micro-changes at the level of the individual. Before arriving at this conclusion in the final chapter of this dissertation, I first present *The work reported in this dissertation is part of a larger research project, which was supported in whole by Public Health Service Research Grant MH 07463 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The project, entitled Cross-Cultural Study of Dissociational States, was under the Direction of Dr. Erika Bourguignon, of the Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University. 1 some background material on trance and spirit possession in Chapter I. In Chapter II, I describe the selection of my research site and the methods I used in gathering data on Umbanda. Chapter III is a brief outline of cultural changes in Brazilian society during the past fifty years and a discussion of the place of Umbanda in the modern Brazilian milieu. Chapter IV deals with Umbanda centers which are the primary functioning social units of this religion. I discuss beliefs and rituals in this chapter. In the following four chapters I present data on six of my major informants. These chapters include information about a cult leader and about a group of five individuals who, as a friendship clique, held a variety of special private spirit sessions throughout the year of field study. The information in these four chapters represents data which were selected from the larger body of my field notes. I chose these data on the basis of their being more complete than other data I had collected. In Chapter IX, I discuss trance and spirit possession in Umbanda, using five levels of analysis to aid in the understanding of the complexity of possession-trance phenomena. Finally, in Chapter X, I conclude that Umbanda emerged in its present cultural form because its major cultural symbols, e.g., four types of spirits, mediate macro-changes at the level of the whole Brazilian society and micro-changes at the level of the individual. 3 This study of Umbanda is part of a larger research project in the Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University. Over a five year period from 1963 to 1968 Professor Erika Bourguignon directed a cross-cultural study of dissociation states. In examining relevant literature on 1283 societies in all parts of the world, the group at Ohio State found that relatively few anthropologists have focused their field studies on dissociation. Some note­ worthy exceptions in recent years are Bastide's (195#) and Verger*s (1957) studies of Afro-Bra2ilian cults in Bahia; Belo's (I960) study of trance in Bali; F i e l d s (I960) study of shrine cults in Ghana; M|trauxTs (1959) study of the vodu cult in Haiti; and Iiouchfo (I960) study of the Songhay in West Africa. To supplement these and other data four members of the Ohio State project undertook and completed field studies of dissociation. Leonard (1966) examined trance and mediums in the Palau Islands. Kimball (1966) studied an evangelistic revival in central Ohio. Henney (1968) concentrated on a Pentecostal group known as Spiritual Baptists (Shakers) in St. Vincent, B. W. I. The fourth field study was carried out by me and is the basis for this dissertation. CHAPTER I TRANCE AND SPIRIT POSSESSION: BACKGROUND In this chapter I first present some background material on trance and spirit possession. Second, I dis­ cuss trance and spirit possession cults in Brazil from two viewpoints. Using the diachronic perspective, one may understand the evolutionary stream of Afro-Brazilian reli­