Brazil Religion

Over 80% of Brazilians claim some sort of affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church, making this nation’s Catholic population the largest in the world. Despite the size of this figure, there is a vast array of faiths practiced in Brazil. When the Brazilian Constitution was ratified in 1889, the nation ceased to have an official religion (until then it had been Roman Catholic), and its citizens were guaranteed freedom of religion. Historically, this had not been the case, which resulted in the combining of Catholicism and other “forbidden” faiths. This sort of multi-faith approach to religion still exists today (although no longer because of threat of persecution), and many Brazilians choose to attend both Catholic mass and African-based ceremonies of worship.

Perhaps the best example of how religious traditions were syncretized with Roman Catholicism during slavery is Candomblé, one of the religions brought to Brazil by African slaves. When plantation owners forbid the practice of Candomblé rituals, its practitioners sought to preserve it by coupling their orixás (deities) with Catholic saints. In this way, the slaves satisfied their masters that they were worshipping the sanctioned religious figures, while still maintaining their own traditions. As such, Candomblé survived and its rituals of dance, song, and spiritual communion—led by mães or pães de santo (priestesses or priests)—are still practiced today, especially in the Northeastern state of Bahia.

Another faith in which traditional Yoruba gods are still worshipped is Umbanda, a religion derived in part from Candomblé and exhibiting aspects of both Christian and Kardecist traditions. Kardecism itself is a sect of over one and a half million Brazilians who follow the doctrine of Allen Kardec, a French Spiritualist who purported beliefs in reincarnation and the idea that one could communicate with the dead. Yet another example of what anthropologists have dubbed the “hybrid religions” of Brazil is Tambo de Mina, practitioners of which are concentrated in Maranhão. This faith incorporates certain beliefs of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon as it preserves elements of traditions brought from Africa.

These faiths (excluding Kardecism) are only a few of the most widely practiced African-based religions in Brazil, most of which are often incorrectly grouped together as macumba. While this is the name of one particular sect, it has come to be used as a derogatory umbrella term for all religions founded in African traditions, meant to inaccurately evoke notions of black magic and Satan worship.

Above and beyond its diverse collection of African-based faiths, Brazil is home to a great number of Protestant religious traditions, including the Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, and Pentecostal sects (the latter two having greatly increased the size of their following in the past few decades). Brazil is also home to people of Muslim, Buddhist, and Jewish faiths (Salvador is home to the first synagogue built in South America).