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The development of Candomble
by Silvia Nakkach and Julie Birnbaum

Derived from the Yoruba people of West Africa and developed in Brazil, Candomble seeks harmony with the natural elements. The religion is organized around Geographical centers known as terreiros, which are usually led by high priestesses, (maes de santo) or priests, (pais de santo). Followers worship a pantheon of orishas, or deities, in a seasonal cycle. During ceremonies, practitioners dress in the colors of the orishas and offer food to an altar before chanting, drumming, singing and dancing.. The vital and anthropomorphic nature of the orisha creates intimate contact between believer and deity, and at the height of ceremony an epiphany, or possession, may occur when the orisha takes over the believer's body. (Davis)

The West African belief system involves becoming one with your orisha-- your protector and helper. The concept is similar to the Catholic view of praying to the saints. The similarities between the two concepts allowed the Africans to conceal their beliefs by disguising their orishas as Catholic saints, and their sacred song and and dance as parties. The need for secrecy made it necessary to conceal the meaning of certain dances and songs from the
uninitiated. At times, musicians revealed and at the same time preserved the secret rhythms by mixing them with more accepted musical forms. The popular sounds of today's Mambo, Salsa and Samba are undeniably linked to Candomble.

Ashe ( Ase/Axe, Yoruba)
In the beginning there was ashe, and ashe was everything. When ashe began to think, ashe became the god Olodumare. When Oludumare began to act, Olodumare became Olofi, and it was Olofi who created Obatala, the first orisha. Ashe is the inner energy and power that allows us to access the right side of the brain and use its powers. Ashe is similar to, but more than aura, soul, or spirituality. It is a living, breathing, palpable flow of energy that can either increase or diminish, depending upon our behavior.

Ashe is a fundamental term within Candomble and the divine force behind it, used as a salutation and to identify the embodiment of divinity. Most simply understood, ashe is cosmic energy, present in every object, entity and living being: a rock, a word, an ocean, a human, a tree. It is also an alchemical power, capable of transforming those it touches. Certain practices, particularly song, dance, and ritual, intensify ashe. These ceremonies of
the orishas can not be separated from ashe they contain and represent the worship directed to the deities. The trance-state that such ceremonies can create is understood as divine contact, sharing, or even merging with the
orishas.

Effects of Candomble
Candomble is seen by many Brazilians as a profound site of resistance for African-descended slaves. While it was certainly shaped and altered by its historical placement within the nation-state of Brazil and the religious
context of Christianity, Candomble has been a site for Blacks to honor and practice their heritage. For women, especially, it has been argued that Candomble allows access to more power, status, and authority than anywhere
else in society (Staal).

Rachel Harding, in her book A Refuge in Thunder: Candomble and Alternative Spaces of Blackness, writes: "An appreciation of the nature of Brazilian slavery is essential to an understanding of Candomble because it was within
the context of response to enslavement and resistance to dehumanization that the religion emerged among blacks in Bahia…the experience of shared oppression in the New World also served to bring Africans of various ethnic
groups together with Brazilian-born blacks into an experience of the communal redefinition of the meaning of their lives and the nature of their solidarities and tensions.

The Opening of Ashe and Candomble to the world

Since the 1960s, Candomble has become more prominent in the public sphere both in Brazil and abroad. It is becoming more and more open to new participation, while at the same time, its very essence is "a semantic space
of secrets, deep knowledge, or fundamentos(Johnson). An experience of Candomble can be, however, a powerful line to a highly charged flow of energy, a path to harmony. Those who are ready to receive it with honor and respect can tap into and benefit from its transformative and therapeutic potentials. As performative power, it is available for humans to use and manipulate as they deal with forces in the world, or beyond. It is a clearly articulated tenet of action and agency.

Worship, combining the evocative arts of song, dance, music, and sculpture, activates and intensifies ashe to honor and attract the gods. If such devotional and artistic evocations please them, they grace the occasion with
their presence, possessing initiates and blessing their followers. The synergetic effect of such performances activates and draws near the ashe of the gods for the benefit of all.

Candomble chants and dances are living practices of profound devotional quality. The simple act of trust in the power of the divine mother, the divine father and the divine community, becomes an infinite source of inspiration and deep personal healing.

Bibliography

Clifford, Paul F. "Origins of Samba-Candomble and the music." 2000.

Davis, Darién J., Afro-Brazilians: Time for Recognition, Minority Rights Group International, 1999

Drewal, Henry J. Sign, Substance, and Subversion in Afro-Brazilian Art.

Harding, Rachel. A Refuge in Thunder: Candomble and Alternative Spaces of Blackness

Johnson, Paul Christopher. "The nation and the nations: Religious identity and ritualizing space in Brazilian Candomble". Dissertation,
University of Chicago, 1997.

Martins, Suzana Maria. "A Study of the Dance of Iemanja in the Ritual Ceremonies of the Candomble of Bahia". Dissertation, Temple University, 1995.

Newark, Philip John. The Way of the Orisha.

Staal, Parvati Jeannette. "Women, Food, Sex and Survival in Candomble".
Dissertation, UCLA, 1992.