Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 6-27-2014 Ritual Performance of the Santo Daime Church in Miami: Co-constructive Selves in the Midst of Impediments to Local Acculturation Alfonso Matas [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI14071135 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Matas, Alfonso, "Ritual Performance of the Santo Daime Church in Miami: Co-constructive Selves in the Midst of Impediments to Local Acculturation" (2014). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1487. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1487 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida RITUAL PERFORMANCE OF THE SANTO DAIME CHURCH IN MIAMI: CO-CONSTRUCTIVE SELVES IN THE MIDST OF IMPEDIMENTS TO LOCAL ACCULTURATION A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ART in RELIGIOUS STUDIES by Alfonso Matas 2014 To: Interim Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Architecture and the Arts This thesis, written by Alfonso Matas, and entitled Ritual Performance of the Santo Daime Church in Miami: Co-Constructive Selves in the Midst of Impediments to Local Acculturation, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Andrea Mantell-Seidel _______________________________________ Albert Kafui Wuaku _______________________________________ Ana Maria Bidegain, Major Professor Date of Defense: June 27, 2014 The thesis of Alfonso Matas is approved. _______________________________________ Interim Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2014 ii © Copyright 2014 by Alfonso Matas All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to Michele. Without her patience, understanding, and support, the completion of this work would not have been possible. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the members of my committee for their support, patience, and good humor. Their gentle but firm direction has been most appreciated. Dr. Andrea Seidel was particularly helpful in guiding me and getting me on track when I lost direction. Dr. Albert Wuaku’s dominion over theory and methodology was instrumental in order to produce a solid and grounded academic document. Finally, I would like to thank my major professor, Dr. Ana Maria Bidegain. From the beginning, she had confidence in my abilities to not only complete this MA degree with distinction, but to pursue further PhD work in order to continuing my research into the fascinating world of new religious movements. I have found my coursework throughout the Curriculum and Instruction program to be stimulating and thoughtful, providing me with the tools with which to explore both past and present ideas and issues. v ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS RITUAL PERFORMANCE OF THE SANTO DAIME CHURCH IN MIAMI: CO-CONSTRUCTIVE SELVES IN THE MIDST OF IMPEDIMENTS TO LOCAL ACCULTURATION by Alfonso Matas Florida International University, 2014 Miami, Florida Professor Ana Maria Bidegain, Major Professor A syncretic religion born in the 1930s in the Amazonian jungle, Santo Daime today is an international flag-bearer in the evolving New Religion Movement (NRM) landscape. Shamanic power, nature veneration, universal love and the quest for a transcendental divine experience thanks to the psychoactive indigenous plant medicine ayahuasca define the Santo Daime allure for a new middle class disenchanted with capitalism. Church acculturation issues in Miami are linked to a rigid and grueling ritual, pervasive Catholic ethos and a lack of internal bureaucracy leading to declining membership threatening the very survival of the church in Miami. Research methods include ethnographic work, literature review, personal interviews and the exegesis of sacred hymns or hinarios. Relaxing the ritual military ethos and improved marketing on the New-Age religiosity marketplace among others would help Santo Daime acculturate better in Miami, an ideal incubator city for evaluating the melting-pot of migrant, Latin American and Caribbean religions into this region. vi TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER .................................................................................................................. PAGE CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................................................1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................1 Research Purpose .................................................................................................................2 Research Questions ..............................................................................................................3 Hypothesis............................................................................................................................4 Methodology ........................................................................................................................7 Ethnographic Grounding ....................................................................................................10 What brought me to the Santo Daime church? ..................................................................12 CHAPTER 2 ......................................................................................................................15 Review Of The Literature ..................................................................................................15 CHAPTER 3 ......................................................................................................................20 Background and History of Santo Daime ..........................................................................20 Historical Origins of Santo Daime .....................................................................................21 Ayahuasca: the Vine of the Soul .......................................................................................22 Santo Daime’s Initial Schism ............................................................................................24 The Supremacy of Padrinho Sebastiao .............................................................................25 Arriving at Ceu do Mapia .................................................................................................26 The Collapse of the Rubber Boom in Northeast Brazil ....................................................27 The Centrality of the Indigenous Tradition ......................................................................31 The Tukano Indians: A Template of Santo Daime ...........................................................34 Tukano and Santo Daime Cosmology ..............................................................................35 Yaje and the Mythic Origins of Society ...........................................................................36 The Tukano and Santo Daime Rituals: Performance and Symbolic Communication ......37 The Tukano and Santo Daime Rituals: The Liminal Stage ..............................................39 Santo Daime Hybridity: the Influence of other Traditions ...............................................42 Umbanda & Candomble: Afrocentric Medium & Orixa Traditions ................................43 The Virgin Mary: Santo Daime’s Spiritual Sovereign ......................................................45 Yemanja: The Queen of the Sea ....................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 4 .....................................................................................................................51 Ceu da Lua Cheia: Resistance to Adaptation In Miami ....................................................51 The History of Ceu da Lua Cheia .....................................................................................51 The New Middle Class: Ceu da Lua Cheia’s Membership Pool ......................................58 Ceu da Lua Cheia: Declining Membership in Miami .......................................................60 A Hostile Legal Environment ...........................................................................................62 Availability of the Sacrament ........................................................................................... 65 The Piercing Daime Work ................................................................................................66 The Prevailing Brazilian Ethos .........................................................................................69 Disturbing Ritual Practices ...............................................................................................69 vii Essential Commitments: Money and Time ......................................................................70 Competition: The New Rule of the Religious Marketplace ..............................................72 Ceu da Lua Cheia: An Organization without a Staff ........................................................74