Understanding Candomblé
Objective
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
- analyze religious continuity across time, place and culture.
- compare and contrast Candomblé and Greco-Roman gods in terms of domain and identification.
- explain the role of Candomblé in the spirituality of the people of Northeastern Brazil.
Material
Activities
- Place the term “Monotheism” on the board.
- Ask students to define the term.
- Ask students to list as identify as many religions as they can, either ancient or modern, that were/are monotheistic in nature. Write the list on the chalkboard.
- Emphasize that many existing religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, for example) are monotheistic in nature.
- Place the term “Polytheism” on the board.
- Ask students to define the term.
- Ask students to list as identify as many religions as they can, ancient and modern, that were/are polytheistic in nature. Write the list on the chalkboard.
- Emphasize that although we tend to identify polytheism with peoples in the past, such as the Greeks and Romans, there are cultures in the world today that also hold polytheistic beliefs. One of those is the religion of Candomblé as it is practiced in northeastern Brazil.
- Distribute the student handout entitled The Origin and Practice of Candomblé.
- Direct students to read the “Introduction” section.
- Ask students if they can summarize the meaning of the first paragraph. How can the “soul” and spirit of a people be reflected outside of an organized practice of religion? What does that mean?
- Direct students to read the section “What is Candomblé?”
- Ask students to explain the nature of the orixás. How do the numbers of orixás reflect the concept of polytheism?
- Write the term “syncreticized” on the chalkboard, and ask students to try to define the term based on how it is used in the handout.
- Ask students to identify any aspects of Christianity as practiced in America that can show instances syncretism. (Easter bunnies and Easter eggs at Easter; Christmas trees and gift giving at Christmas, etc.)
- Ask students to summarize the nature of the syncretism between Candomblé and Catholicism as practiced in Bahia.
- Divide students into five groups.
- Distribute a Student Question Sheet to each student, and one of the Picture Identification Sheets to each group.
- Direct students to answer the questions for the pair of deities on their identification sheet.
- Allow as much time as necessary to fill out question sheets, and circulate among the groups as needed to provide guidance and support.
- When all groups have finished, instructor each group to select a spokesperson and to present the information concerning their deity comparison to the class.
- Concluding Activity
- Follow up the group presentations with a series of reflective questions:
- What similarities do you notice among the pairs?
- What differences do you notice?
- Why do you think polytheistic societies tend to have similar attributes in their gods?
- What do you think accounts for the differences?
- Artistic Extension: If each individual actuall has an orixá to which they are connected, ask students to draw a picture of what they think their orixá may be like.
