What is Candomblé?
Candomblé is an African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. The name itself means “dance in honor of the gods” and refers to a spiritual tradition that preserves the ancestral religious practices of West and Central African peoples who were forcibly transported to Brazil during the Atlantic slave trade. It arose through the blending of the traditional religions brought to Brazil by enslaved West and Central Africans, the majority of them Yoruba, Fon, and Bantu, with the Roman Catholicism of the Portuguese colonialists who then controlled the area.
Candomblé teaches that the Yoruba supreme divinity called Olorun or Olodumare is the creator of everything but is regarded as distant and unapproachable, and thus not directly worshipped in Candomblé. Instead, practitioners venerate a pantheon of intermediary spirits—called orixás in the Ketu nation, voduns in Jeje, and nkises in Angola—who govern natural forces and human affairs. There is no central authority in control of Candomblé, which is organized around autonomous terreiros (houses).
Origins & lineage
African slaves first arrived in Brazil in the 1530s, and were present in Bahia by the 1550s. Over the course of the trade, around four million Africans were transported to Brazil, an area that received more enslaved Africans than any other part of the Americas. In the 16th century, most of the enslaved came from the Guinea coast, but by the 17th century Angola and Congo populations had become dominant. Then, between 1775 and 1850, the majority of slaves were Yoruba and Dahomean, coming from the Gulf of Benin, largely in what is now Benin and Nigeria.
Candomblé primarily coalesced in the Bahia region during the 19th century. The first terreiros formed in early 19th-century Bahia. One of the oldest terreiros was the Ilê Axé Iyá Nassô Oká in Salvador, established by Marcelina da Silva, a freed African woman; this was probably active by the 1830s. Enslaved priests continued to teach their mythology, ritual knowledge, and cosmology despite brutal conditions, encoding their traditions in work songs, dance, and secret gatherings.
Under British pressure, the Brazilian government passed the Queiróz law of 1850 which abolished the slave trade, although not slavery itself. In 1885 all slaves over the age of 60 were declared free, and in 1888 slavery was abolished. Following abolition, emancipated Yoruba traders traveled between Brazil and West Africa, strengthening cultural ties and religious knowledge.
Following Brazil’s independence from Portugal, the constitution of 1891 enshrined freedom of religion in the country, although Candomblé remained marginalized by the Roman Catholic establishment, which typically associated it with criminality. The persecution stopped in the 1970s with repeal of a law requiring police permission to hold public religious ceremonies.
How it’s practiced
Candomblé practice centers on the terreiro, a sacred compound led by a mãe-de-santo (mother of the saint) or pai-de-santo (father of the saint)—initiated priests who maintain the spiritual lineage and conduct rituals. The religion is based on oral tradition and includes a wide range of rituals including ceremonies, dance, animal sacrifice, and personal worship.
Ceremonies typically involve drumming on sacred atabaques (drums), chanting in African languages (primarily Yoruba, Fon, or Kimbundu depending on the nation), and dancing to invoke the orixás. During these rituals, initiates may experience possession, where an orixá temporarily inhabits their body, dancing and offering counsel to the community. Each orixá has distinctive dance patterns, colors, foods, and rhythms.
Initiation is a profound, multi-year commitment. New members undergo seclusion, ritual bathing, head-shaving, and receive their orixá’s sacred objects and knowledge. The process creates kinship bonds; initiates become “children” of their orixá and spiritual siblings to others initiated in the same terreiro.
Candomblé divides into traditions known as nações (nations). The three most prominent are Nagô or Ketu (Queto), Jeje (Gege) or Mina-Jeje, and Angola or Congo-Angola; others include the Ijexá (Ijesha), Egba, Efan (Ekiti) and Caboclo. Each derives influence from a different African language group; Ketu uses Yoruba, Jeje adopts Ewe, and the Angola draws from the Bantu language group. The Nagô nation is the largest, reflecting how Yoruba traditional religion became the dominant West African influence within Afro-Brazilian religions in the 19th century.
Candomblé today
Candomblé’s membership has grown significantly and is now practiced by at least two million people in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Paraguay. In the 20th century, growing emigration from Bahia spread Candomblé both throughout Brazil and abroad, while also influencing the development of another religion, Umbanda, in the 1920s.
Contemporary practitioners encounter Candomblé primarily through personal introduction to a terreiro, often after consultation with a priest about life challenges or spiritual calling. Public festivals honoring specific orixás—such as Iemanjá’s December celebration on Brazilian beaches—draw both devotees and curious observers. Some terreiros welcome visitors to witness drumming ceremonies, though participation in sacred rituals requires initiation.
Since the late 20th century, some practitioners have emphasized a re-Africanization process to remove Roman Catholic influences and create forms of Candomblé closer to traditional West African religion. This movement has sparked debate within communities about authenticity, tradition, and the legitimacy of syncretism as a survival strategy versus cultural dilution.
Academic study of Candomblé has expanded globally, with university programs, ethnographic research, and interfaith dialogue bringing the tradition into broader spiritual and scholarly conversations. Recordings of sacred music, documentaries, and books by practitioners and anthropologists offer entry points for those exploring Afro-Brazilian spirituality.
Common misconceptions
Candomblé is not “voodoo” in the Hollywood sense, nor is it primarily focused on spellwork or harmful magic. Candomblé does not include the duality of a concept of good opposed to evil. Each person is required only to fulfil his or her destiny to the fullest in order to live a ‘good’ life, regardless of what that destiny is. Candomblé teaches that any evil a person causes to others will return to the first person eventually.
While Candomblé incorporated Catholic saints as camouflage during persecution, it is not a Christian denomination. The orixás are not equivalent to Catholic saints despite historical syncretism that paired them (e.g., Iemanjá with Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception). Many contemporary practitioners reject this overlay entirely.
Candomblé is also not freely accessible to casual spiritual seekers in the way drop-in yoga classes are. Initiation requires years of study, financial commitment, and submission to a hierarchical structure. Orixás choose their children; practitioners do not simply choose their deity.
Finally, animal sacrifice, while practiced, is not gratuitous violence but a sacramental offering conducted with reverence, and the meat is typically consumed in ritual meals—similar to kosher or halal slaughter practices.
How to begin
Candomblé does not have a “beginner’s practice” in the sense of meditation apps or introductory workshops. Entry requires relationship. Those drawn to Candomblé should seek out a terreiro, ideally through personal introduction by someone already connected to the community. Attending public festivals or consulting a priest for divination (jogo de búzios, cowrie shell reading) can open dialogue.
For intellectual preparation, read The City of Women by Ruth Landes (1947), an early ethnographic study, or more recent scholarship by Brazilian anthropologist Reginaldo Prandi. Candomblé: African Religion in Brazil by Roger Bastide offers historical depth. Documentaries such as The Turning of the Stones (1995) provide visual immersion.
Understand that legitimate Candomblé training happens only within terreiros under initiated priests. No book or workshop substitutes for this transmission. If you feel called, approach with humility, respect for African diaspora history, and willingness to commit to long-term apprenticeship. Candomblé is a living tradition rooted in survival, resistance, and ancestral continuity—not a self-help modality.