* Indication of biography about this matter for
personal deepening:
. BASTIDE, Roger. As religiões africanas no Brasil. 3. ed., São Paulo: Biblioteca Pioneira de Ciências Sociais,
1989.
. BERKENBROCK, Volney.
J. A experiência dos Orixás: um
estudo sobre a experiência religiosa no candomblé. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1997.
. CHIAVENATO, Júlio J. 13 de maio, outra mentira. Sem Fronteiras, São Paulo, n. 159, p.
20-23, maio de 1988.
. CINTRA, Raimundo. Candomblé e Umbanda: o desafio
brasileiro. São Paulo: Paulinas, 1985.
. CELAM. Texto
conclusivo da V Conferência do Episcopado Latino-americano e caribenho (DAp.). São Paulo: Paulinas, 2008.
. FREITAS, Décio. O escravismo brasileiro. 2. ed., Porto
Alegre: Mercado Aberto, 1982.
. GARAEIS,
Vitor Hugo. A história da escravidão
negra no Brasil. Disponivel em http://sorvitorhugo.blogspot.it/2012/07/historia-da-escravidao-negra-no-brasil.html Acesso em 11
de junho de 2017.
. MATTOS, Regiane Augusto de. História
e cultura afro-brasileira. São Paulo: Contexto, 2011.
. MATTOSO, Kátia de Queirós. Ser escravo no Brasil.São Paulo: Brasiliense, 3. ed., 1990.
. REHBEIN, Franciska
C. Candomblé e salvação. São Paulo:
Loyola, 1985.
. TOLEDO, Roberto
Pompeu de. À sombra da escravidão.
in. Veja, ano 29, n. 20, 15 de maio de 1996.
Afro-Brazilian cultures descend from essentially religious people who
find in the exercise of this dimension the meaning of their existence. We will
first focus at their characteristics from the experience in Africa, and then we
will fix our attention on the dramatic way in which the whole wealth of values
of these cultures was transposed into Brazil.
The scope of our research refers to Sub-Saharan Africa, divided into
three major regions: Western, Central Western and Eastern.[1] In these areas, powerful kingdoms practiced
mining activities, agriculture, commerce, and slavery. The slaves, as in the
case of the kingdom Haússa (Nigeria),
worked as servants, artisans, soldiers, porters, public workers and farmers.[2] Some, as in the case of the Songai slaves, had duties of trust; were
eunuchs, and members of the great cavalry.[3] Most of these people “practiced domestic
slavery to increase the number of family or lineage members.”[4] This situation of slavery has always
characterized the lives of these kingdoms, but it does not compare to the one,
which occurred in Latin America from the sixteenth century.[5]
It is also worth mentioning the figure of the king who, among the Yoruba people, “had a sacred power,
originating from the Orishas, to
which he would unite after his death.”[6] Among the Charanga,
people of Bantu origin, the kings were
known as monomotapa, considered a
divine king, for having the power to communicate with God through mediums.[7] This way of seeing the ruler was due to his
religious experience. The system of government exerts influence in the
formation of a religious system of mediation: the king with his intermediary
ministers and his subjects. Thus, we have the Supreme Being with many ancestral
spirits and the human beings.[8] Another aspect that seems to be common in
these societies is the existence of the Council and listening to the elderly,
according to the author R. A. de Mattos: “... All African societies were
organized around lineages and council of elders, in which great importance was devoted
to the elderly in the community and to the dead ancestors.”[9]
Several African societies professed only the traditional religions,
while others were influenced by Islam due to commercial exchanges.[10] It is important to emphasize that the presence
of Islam in many African cultures did not prevent traditional religions from
maintaining their identity. There are situations where kings and nobles have
adhered to Islam, but a majority of the population remained adept of
traditional religion, offering sacrifices to their ancestors and attending
rituals to obtain fertility and rain. In these cases, the kings cultivated the
double belonging, because, in order not to lose the power, they also practiced
the traditional rituals.[11]
There are other cases in which certain cultures were able to resist at
first, but after some time, they had to adhere because of the power of another
tradition. This was the case of the Songai
kingdom, that “their religious traditions were preserved until the end of the
fifteenth century, when the military and Muslim clerics dominated power,”[12] forcing the entire population to follow Islam.
There is, however, a record of conflicts among the Haússa, since their rulers adhered to Islam, while the subjects
remained faithful to traditional beliefs.[13]
There was a certain rivalry between these people, which was motivated,
among other causes, by necessity of extension of territories. This is one of
the causes of the existence of slaves, because “the subjugated people became
tributaries and subjected to bondage.”[14] When
the European colonizers arrived on African soil, they were already aware of
this situation and they even contributed to increase rivalries. They nourished
the tribal conflict[15] and, above all, they strongly shook these
social and cultural groups, making certain traditions disappear, such as the “Extended
family”.[16] The Portuguese began their commercial
transactions in the gulfs of Benin and Biafra, from the second half of the XV
century.[17] They usually bought slaves who were already exchanged
for gold on the Coast of the Mine and who were generally prisoners of war or
criminals.[18]
Trafficking, which began in the sixteenth century, came to an end only
in the nineteenth century (1815), when it was banned by the Congress of Vienna,
although Portugal had signed an agreement with England in 1810, committing
itself to extinguish trading of slaves in Africa.[19] Before embarking on the tumbeiros (derived from
tomb) ships, Africans received baptism[20] and were marked with initials or symbols of
the owners.[21] It is not precisely known how many were
shipped to Brazil, although more than four million people were estimated,
corresponding to 40% of transportation to Latin America. The author, P. Calmon,
speaks of 6 million, while A. de Taunay, reduces it to 3.6 million.[22] The author P. Calógeras, cited by R. Cintra,
estimates more than 15 million, based on calculations on the capacity of ships
and sea travel.[23] There is no consensus, in fact; what is known
is that not everyone came alive. Regarding the classification of these people,
R. Cintra usually divides into three large groups, corresponding to the
different cycles of the slave trade:
1) Sudanese cultures, represented mainly by the Yoruba peoples of
Nigeria (Nagô, Ijêcha, Egbá, Ketu,
Ibadan, Ijebú) and Dahome (Gêge
or Ewe, Fon or Efan) by the Mina
group of the Gold Coast (Fanti, Ashanti
), By smaller groups from Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Malagueta Coast, Ivory
Coast (Krumano, Agni, Zema, Teminí, Gós,
Tehis, etc.); 2) Islamized Guinean-Sudanese cultures, represented primarily
by the Peuhl (Fulah, Fula), then by the Mandinga
(Solinke, Bombara), the Haussa of northern Nigeria and smaller
groups such as Tapa, Bornu, Gurunsi,
Kanuris and others; 3) Bantu cultures, formed by numerous tribes of the
Congo, Angola and Contra-Cost (Cabindas,
Benguelas, Macuas, Angicos, Caçanges, Rebolos, Muxincongos).[24]
By this time, the Portuguese colonizers, without realizing, were
introducing in this land, people of traditions, very different from each other,
and of much diversified religiosity; people whom in meeting each other could
have destroyed reciprocally because of their rivalry among them.[25] But this did not happen, because before the destruction caused in their
lands and in their lives, it was left to join the forces and to survive in the
new situation, seeking to recover the values of their traditions.
In fact, the colonizing project of preventing communication between
African families did not achieve the expected success, for, just as the traffic
did not cease, the continuous renewal of the “sources of life” did not cease as
well, establishing permanent contact between the former slaves or their
children and newcomers, opening new horizons, revitalizing hopes. The group was
often joined by spiritual leaders, diviners and medicine-healers throughout the
slave period, which enhanced a rejuvenation of religious values.[26]
Africans and their descendants, individually or in groups, searched to
cultivate their intimate relationship with the spirits of the ancestors to live
meaningfully, despite the situation that had been imposed upon them. They had
no more hope of returning to geographic Africa, but brought back into their
lives the “ancestral Africa,” spiritual and religious, to which they would
return after death. In their own way, they pursued to keep alive their roots
and their sense of belonging, which the captivity and the whole situation of
sorrow and suffering could not get out of their lives.
As we all know, this entire slavery process was legitimized by “religious
and racist ideas that affirmed the superiority and privileges of the white people
minority.”[27] During the celebrations of the five centuries
of evangelization, this big mistake was remembered and repaired with gestures
and requests for forgiveness made by major ecclesiastical authority. Recently,
Afro-descendant cultures have been recognized for their “corporeal
expressiveness, their family roots and the sense of God” (DA 56), which have
contributed greatly to an ever more dynamic and committed process of
evangelization. The engagement of many Afro-descendants in the various social
struggles and their just demands does not make opposition to faith, but
expresses it concretely and coherently. That is why such characteristics, typical
of the black cultures present in much places of the world, find great
conformity with the Christian proposal of a dignified life for all.
Author: Josuel dos Santos Boaventura PSDP - Fr
Ndega
Theological review: ThD Fr Luis Carlos Susin
English review: EdM Mary Kung'u
[1] Cf. MATTOS, R. A. de. Op. cit., p. 15.
[2] Cf. Ibid., p. 35.
[3] Cf. Ibid., p. 25.
[4] Ibid., p. 57.
[5] The America, having been invaded, at the end of the fifteenth century
(1492) and Brazil in particular, in the early 16th century (1500) the thirst
for riches, economic greed and cultural disrespect led the colonizers to
explore the vast interior of Brazil, organizing expeditions in search of
precious metals. What this land could offer them at first was some medicinal
plants, Brazil wood, multicolour parrots and fun little monkeys. Natives
without clothes had thousands, but none of this attracted much interest in
exploitation. With the advance of other European nations and fearing to lose
all this, Portugal begins, from 1530 such a devastation that has its remnants
to the present day. As labour, he transported people from Africa as slaves, since
his plan to enslave indigenous people did not work very well (see BASTIDE, R., Op cit, pp. 47-48). Among the reasons
for the failure of indigenous slavery, the author D. FREITAS mentions the
aboriginal state of life habituated to nomadism and the deaths caused “by the
deadly contagion with European diseases” (FREITAS, D. Op. cit., p.23).
[6] MATTOS, R. A. de. Op. cit., p. 45.
[7] Cf. Ibid., p. 49.
[8] REHBEIN, F. C. Op. cit., p. 30.
[9] MATTOS, R. A. de. Op.
cit., p. 57.The author R.
Cintra presents other characteristics of these cultures: “The Bantu of Congo and Angola seem to be
the most primitive. They lived in the forests or plains near the coast, in
small agglomerations or tribes. The dwellings were thatched huts or round
conical roof huts. The clothing was rudimentary (...) There was a great variety
of races and languages, according to the groups located to the North, to the
South or to the Center. They devoted themselves to grazing or to rudimentary
agriculture with wood hoes (Artur Ramos). The most civilized were the Sudanese, Yoruba, Nigerian, or Dahomean.
They were tall, burly and active. They lived in cities and had stations with
boats. The Portuguese treated their chiefs as kings. They knew the weaving and
negotiated with the foreigners “cloths of the coast”. There were blacksmiths
and artists in copper, gold, and wood. They created large and medium-sized
animals: horses, cattle, goats, sheep. They had adobe dwellings and built
fortifications. The Islamized Sudanese
Haussas, Malians knew the progress of Arab culture. They had better
weapons. The Fanti and Ashanti, as
well as the inhabitants of the Gold Coast
and the Gulf of Guinea (...) They
traded gold with the Portuguese and knew how to work metals. The most powerful,
particularly the Regulos of Dahome and
Lakes, practiced barter with the Portuguese (…), exchanging slaves for a roll
of smoke (12 rolls of smoke in exchange for a slave). Brandy, sugar, cassava
flour, coarse farm, oriental trinkets, gunpowder, and weapons were also goods
used in the exchange” (CINTRA, R.Op. cit. p. 32).
[10] MATTOS, R. A. de. Op. cit., p. 57. It is also convenient to quote an excerpt from the
same author on page 18: “Trans-Saharan trade also provided contact with Islam,
a monotheistic religion, founded by Mohammed (570-632) and based on the Koranic
scriptures. In many Sudanese kingdoms, especially among kings and elites, Islam
was well received and attracted many adherents, having reached the African
savannah region, probably before the 11th century, brought by the Arab-Berber
family of the Kunta.”
[11] Cf. MATTOS, R. A. de. Op. cit., p. 32. Here, the author refers to the peoples Sereres and Jalofos, inhabitants of Senegambia, which is the area between
Sahara desert and the equatorial forest in the basins of the Senegal and Gambia
Rivers.
[12] Ibid., p. 24.
[13] Cf. Ibid., p. 35.
[14] Ibid., p. 65.
[15] This idea is reinforced by V. Berkenbrock: “In their majority, the
slaves were war prisoners or products of hunt with the enslaver goal. The
Traficant of slaves provoked enmities between the African chefs, increasing
thus the wars and consequently the number of people made available to slavery” (BERKENBROCK,
V. J. Op. cit., p. 69).
[16] The extended family was composed by wife or wives, father, sons,
cousins, uncle, aunt, grandparents, etc. (see MATTOSO,
K. de Q. Op. cit., p. 27).
[17] “The most accepted thesis is that in 1538,
Jorge Lopes Bixorda, tenant of brazil-wood, would have trafficked to Bahia the
first African slaves” (GARAEIS, V. H. Op.
cit).
[18] Cf. MATTOS, R. A. de. Op. cit., p. 74.
[19] Cf. Ibid.,
p. 95.
[20] Granting the baptism to the Africans, before departure, was linked to
the idea that “the black people had no soul”, thus were reduced to the level of
the animals. Then, having no soul, they could be enslaved, but in this
situation of no soul, they could not enter “Land of Saint Cross” (Brazil) as “pagan”.
The Baptism was also a kind of “act of charity,” for if they died during the
journey they could go straight into heaven (see CHIAVENATO, J. J. Op. cit., pp. 20-23). In fact, the
expression “receiving baptism” is inadequate. What really happened was an
imposition of baptism.
[21] Cf. MATTOS, R. A. de. Op.
cit., p. 100s.
[22] Cf.
BASTIDE, R. Op. cit., p. 50s.
[23] CALÓGERAS, P. A política
exterior do império, p. 283s apud CINTRA, R. Op. cit., p. 24. Some
details of this trip we can find in TOLEDO, R. P.de. Op. cit., p. 59. Veja também em GARAEIS, V.
H. Op. cit.
[24] CINTRA. R. Op. cit., p. 32. See correspondent and complementary data in BASTIDE, R. Op. cit., p. 67. About the destination
of all these people, the statement that R. CINTRA makes is significant: “(...)
The Sudanese, particularly the Yorubas were more in Bahia and in the
Northeast, the daomeanos,
particularly the Gêges, went to
Maranhão. There are also representatives in Bahia and Pernambuco. The Haussas, Malês and Mandingas, spread throughout the Northeast, were the main
responsible for the Quilombos; the Bantos, spread more or less throughout the
Brazil, are more numerous in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and the southern States”
(Ibid., p. 32s).
[25] Cf. BASTIDE, R. Op. cit., p. 68.
[26] Cf. Ibid., p. 69.
[27] GARAEIS, V. H. Op. cit.
(Digital text).
