THE CANDOMBLE RELIGION: A SOURCE OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT FOR AFRO-BRAZILIAN WOMEN

Abstract

In my paper I focus on the role that the religion of Candomble plays in the development of the female identity in the Afro-Brazilian culture. It explores the conflation of the belief structures of the indigenous peoples, the spiritual ideologies of the African-Yoruba cultures and the Catholic faith. Moreover, as an extension of defining woman and defining what is sacred, it considers the symbolic nature of blood sacrifice as a confirmation of a deified status. It examines the space and the boundaries that these women inhabit when attempting to construct a true meaning and understanding of what it is to be a woman living in an Afro-Brazilian culture. Also, it takes into consideration the role religion plays in revealing the status of women who exist in this space, and as a consequence, the way the religion itself then becomes an influencing factor upon the definition of women in this culture. I develop a discussion about what is worshipped and held sacred with regards to the status of women as an underlying ideal which has a direct relationship to the political and economic realities for women in this Afro-Brazilian setting. As such, it considers various religious, social, economic and political theories that contribute in outlining the role of the Afro-Brazilian woman. It is my contention that women in the Afro-Brazilian culture have greater access to the resources of their societies based on an elevated quasi-deified status derivative of their role as priestesses of Candomble houses.