saints in Santos

 Continuing on with my ritual site spotting walks, I have extended my area of operations to Santos on the coast of Sao Paulo state. A walk into the forest by the edge of a recreation lake and nature reserve uncovered an area extensively used to give offerings to orixas and for working charms. The site's proximity to water and abundace of rocks and different types of tree make it ideal for ritual activities.

 On the forest floor stands Nossa Senhora Apericida the patron saint of Brazil originally said to have been found by fishermen in the sea. She has ebony skin and is supposed to be responsible for numerous miarcles. At some distance apart in the bole of the tree stand two entities connected with Umbanda: a 'preto velho' (old black) who is the spirit of a wise old slave, who would normally be called in to give advice on such things as domestic disputes and a caboclo, representing the spirit of a deceased free indigenous indian.

 A plate containing rose petals hs been left as an offering in front of the effigies of the spirit entities. The major way that Umbanda differs from the related religion Candomble is in its use of spirit entities to act as intermediaries between humans and orixas. In this way it incorporates elements of European spiritism.

On a rock stands the figure of Moses with a candle in front.

 Candomble and Umbanda use a number of saints and biblical figures taken from Catholicism to represent orixas, gods  of mainly (but not exlusively) of African origin. This system would no doubt have been useful for slaves to hide disaproved of non-Cristian pantheistic practices. Indeed, persecution of such religions continued until well after the abolition of slavery. According to many historical sourcess, it was not until the 1970s that Candomble and associated religions were able to come completely out into the open. This religious 'syncretism' as it is mostly reffered to by acedemic,s with its use of parallel systems of ritual symbols, is also an exaample of the flexibility and inclusivness often a hallmark of pantheistic religions and illustrates the ease with which one culture can find ideological equivalents in the traditions of another.Catholic saints are as much part of Candomble as African deties. Although there is a movement to do away with Christain symbols in the religion, it has not seemed to have made much headway.

Moses stands  for Xango http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shango (also sometimes spelt `Shango' `Sango' or 'Chango'). He is the sky father and undergod of lightening and thunder. In the Yoruba tradton, from which he comes, he is the royal ancestor. He is depicted holding a double headed axe representing swift and balanced justice. It is not difficult to see the connection between one ancestral law-giver and another.