The Cult of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous Gods in Brazilian Wicca: Symbols and Practices

Authors

  • Daniela Cordovil Universidade do Estado do Pará (State University of Pará)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v16i2.26918

Keywords:

Afro-Brazilian religions, Brazil, Indigenous religions in Brazil, Wicca.

Abstract

This paper is a field report based on ethnographic data collected at two Brazilian Wicca meetings held in March and July 2014, in São Paulo and Brasilia, respectively. Both meetings celebrated Brazilian goddesses. This paper analyses this use and adaptation of local religious elements by Brazilian Wiccans. The religion arrived in Brazil during the 1980s, and today there are many Wicca covens and local traditions. This research focuses on one of these, the Brazilian Dianic Tradition. Led by Mavesper Cy Ceridwen, today this tradition has forty-eight priests and priestesses. Its magical family runs Abrawicca, a civil association that holds public Wicca rituals in five different Brazilian cities. They also organize the gatherings described in this paper. I present some of their practices, with a particular focus on the adaptation of Afro-Brazilian and native Indigenous gods and rituals by Brazilian Wiccans.

Author Biography

  • Daniela Cordovil, Universidade do Estado do Pará (State University of Pará)
    Daniela Cordovil is an associate professor of anthropology at the State University of Pará, Brazil.

References

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Published

2015-08-25

Issue

Section

Field Report

How to Cite

Cordovil, D. (2015). The Cult of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous Gods in Brazilian Wicca: Symbols and Practices. Pomegranate, 16(2), 239-252. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v16i2.26918