Ways and travels of the sacred feminine from Brazil to central europe feminine power and agency in the contemporary umbanda community ilê axé oxum abalô

Abstract

This study examines the Afro-Brazilian theology of the Orixás (Yorùbá deities from West Africa) as practised in a translocated and diasporic Umbanda community in the Central European region of Switzerland, Austria and Germany, the Ilê Axé Oxum Abalô / Terra Sagrada. In contrast to religious traditions of the Candomblé from Brazil (Cf. the definitions of Umbanda and Candomblé in its religious field: Gonçalves da Silva (Candomblé e Umbanda. Caminhos da Devoção Brasileira. Selo Negro, São Paulo, 2005), which are based on the interpretation of the West African Ilê Ifé oracle deciphering the deities’ influence on people through the Orixás, this spiritual community refers its way of learning about the deities to the effects of music, dance and the inner knowledge of one’s own body. Particularly, change and renovation is sought in the oral transmission of knowledge production by a feminist liberation from shameful and powerless attributions in the mythology of the goddess Obá, among other female goddesses. Spiritual tourism of the community to Brazil encourages these new ways. This text argues that these feminist activists expressed in contemporary performances in Central Europe select certain historical precursors in the religious field of the Afro-Brazilian religions.