Candomblé Angola

What it is

Candomblé Angola is one of the large divisions, called nations, that make up the Candomblé religion of Brazil. Its ancestors were Kongo and Mbundu people brought across the Atlantic as slaves, who spoke Kikongo and Kimbundu and carried their gods with them. At the head of its worship stands Nzambi, the highest god and maker, honoured alongside the Jinkisi or Minkisi, divine beings of Bantu myth. Each community is led by a priestess or priest known as Mãe-de-santo or Pai-de-santo, titles meaning mother or father of the saints. The nation is also called Candomblé Bantu, or simply Banto.

Where it comes from

The nation took shape in the Portuguese Empire, on Brazilian soil, among enslaved Kongo and Mbundu people. Their languages, Kikongo and Kimbundu, survive in the nation's vocabulary. The word Bantu itself means 'people', built from ba, a plural marker, and ntu, a person. Portuguese settlers in Brazil used Banto as a loose label for anyone speaking a Bantu language, and the nation keeps that name. A photograph of practitioners in Bahia from the 1940s records an Afro-Brazilian faith already settled there. Candomblé also numbers related nations, named Jeje and Ketu, alongside this one.

What it is for

Devotees turn to each Nkisi for its own province, as belief holds. Nzambi Mpungu gives rainfall and health. Aluvaiá stands between humanity and the other divinities, and is asked to guard the houses of the faith. Nkosi Mukumbe governs roads, agriculture and iron, and is paired with the Yoruba power Ogun. Who approaches them, and how, rests with the priesthood of each house, the mães- and pais-de-santo who serve the community.

Who does it

Every house of the nation answers to a priestess or priest. A woman who leads is a Mãe-de-santo, a man a Pai-de-santo, Portuguese for mother-of-saint and father-of-saint. A photograph taken in Bahia in the 1940s records its practitioners gathered there. The faith itself assigns care of these houses to Aluvaiá, named protector of the houses, so each congregation's wellbeing sits under a divinity's watch.

Peoples and places

The nation belongs to Brazil, where Candomblé arose, and to the Kongo and Mbundu peoples whose descendants carried it. Bahia stands out as a centre, and the 1940s photograph of its worshippers was taken there. The name Bantu marks Central African descent rather than one single people: Portuguese colonists used Banto broadly for Bantu-language speakers. Beside it stand the related Jeje and Ketu nations, and the whole religion is classed Afro-Brazilian.

What people believe

Nzambi, also named Nzambi Ampungu or Nzambi Mpungu, is the sovereign master who made the earth and then withdrew from worldly affairs. Nzambi Mpungu still has charge of rain and health. Beneath him rank the Jinkisi, or Minkisi, divinities of Bantu myth; the word is Kikongo, the plural of Nkisi, which means receptacle. The nation holds that they act as Olorun and the orishas do in the Yoruba religion. Aluvaiá, who carries many names besides, among them Bombo Njila and Pambu Njila, is the go-between for human beings and the other Nkisi, and the protector of the houses. Nkosi Mukumbe, whom the nation also calls Xauê, governs roads, farming and iron; further Nkisi include Mutalambô, Katendê, Matamba and Kisimbi.

Compare and confuse

Candomblé Angola sits beside two related nations, Candomblé Jeje and Candomblé Ketu, with the Kongo religion of Central Africa behind it. Its divinities are held to act as Olorun and the orishas do in Yoruba religion, and Nkosi Mukumbe is associated with Ogun. Names shift with language: Nkisi is Kikongo, while the Brazilian term Akixi comes from the Kimbundu word Mukixi.

Questions people ask about Candomblé Angola

Good reading and sources

• Candomblé Angola on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data