Candomblé
Candomblé is an Afro-Brazilian religion formed from the 16th century onward through the forced diaspora of enslaved African peoples, who preserved and adapted the worship of the Orixás, voduns, and inquices from their traditions of origin on Brazilian soil.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
Candomblé is organized into 'nations,' each reflecting the ethnic-linguistic origin of the enslaved African populations that founded it: the Ketu nation (also called Nagô), of Yoruba origin, is today the most numerous and influential, especially in Bahia; the Angola nation has Bantu origins; the Jeje nation has Fon/Dahomean origins. Under religious and police repression that remained legally in place in Brazil well into the 20th century (terreiros were raided and priests arrested on charges of 'witchcraft' or 'charlatanism'), practitioners also developed syncretism with Catholic saints as a form of protection and, for many, of genuine simultaneous devotion.
Interpretation — The inside view (practitioners)
For practitioners, Candomblé is a complete religion, with its own theology, ethics and cosmology — not a superstition or cultural survival, but a living system of relationship with the Orixás, mediated by priests (pais e mães de santo, 'fathers and mothers of saint') and by initiation rituals that establish a personal, lasting bond between the initiate and their ruling Orixá. The idea that Candomblé is a 'less pure' or merely folkloric version of African religions is rejected by most terreiros as an external and disrespectful view.
Interpretation — The academic view (anthropology of religion)
Anthropologists such as Roger Bastide documented Candomblé as a genuinely syncretic and adaptive religious system — not a degraded copy of African religions, but a creative and coherent reconfiguration, shaped by the specific conditions of slavery, Brazilian urbanization, and contact among different African ethnic groups that, in Africa, did not necessarily share a single unified religious system. In this reading, the diversity of nations is seen as evidence of the diaspora's historical complexity, not as fragmentation of one original tradition.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Candomblé the same as the religion practiced in Africa?
- Not exactly. Candomblé shares its origin and pantheon with traditional Yoruba religion (and other African traditions), but formed and transformed in Brazil under the specific historical conditions of the diaspora and slavery — it's a Brazilian religion with African roots, not an identical copy.
- Why are there different 'nations' of Candomblé?
- Because they reflect the distinct ethnic-linguistic origin of the enslaved African peoples who founded each lineage — Ketu (Yoruba), Angola (Bantu), and Jeje (Fon/Dahomean) are the main ones, each with its own practices, pantheon, and liturgy.
Sources
- Roger Bastide. The African Religions of Brazil (1978).
- Reginaldo Prandi. Mitologia dos Orixás (2001).
- Pierre Verger. Orixás: Deuses Iorubás na África e no Novo Mundo (1981).
- Stephen D. Glazier (ed.). Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions (2001).