[Ɔkyeame Kwame]

HISTORY OF UMBANDA

UMBANDA is the new designation of an old Religion.

Since immemorial times the mankind worships its Gods tying them to the forms or elements of the Nature. Thus, we have several THEOGONIES (1), amongst which stood out: the Egyptian, the Greek and the Roman.

Among the Black People of Africa several Theogonies was developed, standing out the ORISHA (2) Theogony, Divinities that dominate the Nature elements and second a Main God (and Only) in the control of the Earth and its inhabitants.

That Religion of Orixás arrived to Brazil, through the African blacks originating from of the area where today it is located Nigeria, brought as slaves, since the first years of Brazil, untill II Empire.

By virtue of the disaggregation of the Cult of Orixás, motivated by the deliberate dissemination of the blacks by the several Brazilian areas, mixing the several groups, the UMBANDA appeared, a simplified form of the African model of the Religion of Orixás, which is, still, very complex, requesting a long initiation period.

That new form of Cult of Orixás mixed with strange practices to the African model, such as: Practices of Occultism, Kardec's Spiritism, Oriental Religions, Indigenous Cults and Catholic Practices. Even so, its base stayed africanist, because the main purpose of UMBANDA is still the Cult to Orixás, which and done in a imitation (*) of the Cults of Nation (3), the today called CANDOMBLÉS (4).

(*) We don't want to give pejorative sense to the word " imitation ", but yes to say that the ceremonies of Umbanda are similar to the one of the Candomblés, of course with variations.

Several classifications have been given to the forms of Umbanda practiced nowadays, but we preferred not to enter in this subject for too much polemic. We preferred to refer to the description than it is, nowadays, the Umbanda practiced in great number of Terreiros. (excerpt)
See link below for a more detailed history of UMBANDA

http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/Umbanda/Ing.html