©
Adam Jones
Brazil Travel Guide
©
Adam Jones
A stay in Brazil is full of opportunities to immerse yourself in the heart of ancestral devotions and amazing religious practices. Brazil definitely appears as a land of believers of numerous diverse rituals.
Brazil is the top Catholic nation in the world with approximately 140 million believers. However, it seems that the Roman Catholic church is losing ground and the number of followers continues to decline. The Catholic establishment is synonymous with mass conversion of the population, a result of popular practices imbued with earlier traditions sometimes far removed from Western dogmas. The worship of saints holds secrets in the eyes of some Brazilians to the detriment of Mass and sacraments, attracting little enthusiasm or devotion.
The Church remains strong and powerful, you can judge for yourself during your stay in Brazil, by visiting its architectural wonders . Massive rallies, encouraged by the Charismatic Renewal movement, aroused an enthusiastic zeal.
Protestant denominations have been present in Brazil since the nineteenth century and then only concerned a small proportion of the population. The situation has changed considerably since the arrival of evangelical or Pentecostal movements from the United States. Close followers of ceremonies that are like Hollywood shows, where all means possible are used to convert and attract the masses, have seen the number of believers increase considerably in recent decades, to the detriment of the Catholic church, much less judgmental and fun.
Brazil is a land of believers but also and especially believers of faiths in various forms. African slaves who inhabited this land maintained their own worship in disguised forms and perpetuated their own rites. Candomblé, also called Macoumba or Batuque, is the most widespread and known form. It includes a specific hierarchy with spiritual leaders capable of maintaining worship to the ancestors, sacred places, offerings and animal sacrifices.
Umbamba, which can be called spiritualism, also knows great fervour. It is the result of a mixture of present religious forms, such as Shamanism, Catholicism and African religions. Many also practise black magic and white magic which concerns all classes of the population.
